


Fire Emblem: Animus

by Actraiser



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Deepthroating, Dirty Talk, Dominance, F/F, F/M, Female Solo, First Chapter Has No Sex, Harems, Incest, Masturbation, Rough Sex, Second Chapter Also Has No Sex Whoops, Sex, Submission, Tags Added As Chapters Develop, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-09-24 00:02:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 53,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20349010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Actraiser/pseuds/Actraiser
Summary: It's been two years since the Shepherds defeated the fell dragon Grima. One year since the tactician that helped unite them returned from the dead. Robin has adusted to his lifestyle as the right hand of the heroic Exalt and his new role.Yet strange dreams begin to haunt him and as he begins to understand their meaning he realizes that he may have to change as well as let those he has grown distant from come back into his life.Join Robin and the Shepards for a journey of self discovery, love, lust and evolution. Of course it wouldn't be any sort of journey if it didn't involve as much meaningless (and meaningful) smut as I can jam pack into it!





	1. In Sleep as Waking

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> This is my first story I've posted here or anywhere and I hope you enjoy it. As a novice writer any feedback or comments are very welcome and I will do my best to adjust or respond as needed. 
> 
> This story and it's chapters are somewhat planned but I may hold votes or ask for suggestions for content, so keep an eye out for those!
> 
> Thank you, and I hope you enjoy the story.

Sun hanging high in the sky above, Ylisstol looked every part the capital city it was to be; Ylisse was in a state of peace and it showed in the thriving streets even on this hot midday. It had been two years since the war that had decided the future of Ylisse and the world and though some scars remained, they were far beyond the streets of this beautiful city. Built in a sweeping rise around a great hill it started so simply on it's outskirts and swelled until it came to the great palace of the Exalt at the crest of it all standing above and looking down over both it's city and the countryside.

Ever since the end of the war, Exalt Chrom had done everything in his power to help his people recover. Though the shadow of Grima might never quite leave Ylisse it had lessened considerably in the time since it's defeat and death. Bandits thriving on the chaos of the war and its aftermath has been chased down and routed by a newly galvanized military which Chrom had pulled together from the Shepards, the heroes of the war, leading to renewed safety for Ylisse' citizens. Trade was renewed, farmland and mines recovered or reopened and much of the affected country brought back to normal, or as close as was possible now.

To achieve such progress and restoration required a certain dedication that many would argue only Chrom possessed. Armed with both his almost legendary headstrong attitude and the support of allies across Ylisse and the continent itself he had changed so much in such a short time. Almost as dedicated as himself were his closest advisors and friends, military leaders and connected individuals across Ylisse whose influence was often just as responsible for progress as his own.

"...Which leads us to the situation with Regna Ferox's border. Cordelia, would you..."

An unfortunate side effect of such things, however, was the overwhelming need to coordinate it all. Which meant meetings were both frequent and mandatory in attendence, a policy put into place by the Exalt's right hand who at this time was thoroughly regretting his own policy; Robin was seated at the side of one such meeting now, his form overshadowed by the high back wooden chair he was somewhat sunken into.

Grima's death had changed Robin; Mostly because he, himself, had died. To end the dragon's life had cost Robin his own and though the machinations of Grima's counterpart, Naga, had made his death a temporary setback it was still not every day that one recovered from death. It had come with it's own complications, of course, but Robin was glad to be back. 

Retaining his signature somewhat spiked white hair, Robin had let it grow into a rather nice cheek-length mane that he swept back behind his ears and out of his face. He had grown a few inches, and he was a bit leaner in the face...Otherwise, he was still the same calm-faced, oval eyed tactician he had always been. His almost oversized black and purple trimmed coat remained over his shoulders, though he had been forced to change up his fashion slightly. His new role forced him to adjust to tighter fitting tunics and more stylized pants, though he had told Chrom point blank he would keep his thudding boots over any dress shoe or Chrom could find himself a new Grandmaster.

Robin's title had remained since the war, but he had added many hats to his wardrobe. In addition to advising Chrom on military matters he had taken up the role of Chrom's ear to the many contacts and whispers that came his way, as well as acting as something a personnel coordinator and at times secretary for his Exalt. If you wished to meet Chrom, or wished Chrom to know something, you came to Robin first.

Chrom himself sat at the head of the meeting table as if not a day had changed since the war ended. Same swept blue hair, same soft smile, same expressive eyes even as he looked somewhat bored himself, one hand propping his cheek up on the table. He had not even changed his clothing since, retaining the same one-sleeved battle outfit he often wore, same shoulder mantle and Falchion carefully held at his waist.

Opposite Robin, motherhood agreed with Sumia. She had begun to brain her rose pink hair and it now fell behind her shoulders, her outfits now comprising a series of beautiful shoulderless tops with loose hanging sleeves and tightly fitted skirts, her figure just a little fuller and more mature with her beautiful eyes marked by a few soft lines. Yet she had not lost her edge either, and she sat at full attention sharply listening to Chrom and the others.

Frederick and Cordelia sat opposite each other as well, General of the Ylissian Army and Wing Commander of the Pegasus Knights respectively. Frederick remained an impressive man, his heavy mail still hanging from his frame which had not lost an ounce since his time at war. The only difference in his appearance was a filled out beard and goatee which he seemed to have grown at the insistence of his wife. Cordelia had remained much the same in the passing of time, her long red hair still dominating much of her as it cascaded down her back and retaining her signature uniform, platemail covering her upper torso but the rest light red and white leather and cloth. Her red eyes remained on Chrom, though she often seemed to glance off into the distance where a great plate glass window showed the bright sky outside.

The remainder of the table was taken up by noble advisers of the various provinces and trade or foreign advisers, many of whom Robin knew by face more than name, but he was hardly paying attention to them now. His eyes were on the papers in front of him, his fingers twitching idly as he held a quill to the notes he had been writing out during the meeting so far.

Cordelia was speaking now and Robin was listening to her, but his eyes seemed to drift off to the wall behind her and instead of words her voice seemed a soft flutter akin to a curtain in the wind...His eyes slowly closed and he found himself drifting back into the chair. There was a silence now and then a soft nudge from his side; Frederick, next to him, had put his hand on Robin's shoulder and gentle nudged him.

Snapping his eyes open, Robin stared blearily at Chrom who looked at his closest friend with a mixture of bemusement and concern, while Robin himself felt his cheeks redden. Everyone was staring at him, waiting for something...What was it? They were discussing Regna Ferox, Cordelia was speaking...Pieces clicked together in his head faster than anyone could speak to prompt him or ask him what was wrong.

"Mmn, yes." he started, sitting up straight and quickly flicking a piece of paper to the relevant spot. Regna Ferox had requested aid in clearing a number of it's border fortresses which had fallen into disrepair and disuse during the war. Aside from the obvious threat of bandits and other miscreants taking root, the primary concern was that many had been left abandoned with locked gates and doors. "..._Erhem_. I've already approved Cordelia's excellent suggestions for who should ride during the investigations, and we've decided that the Captain of the Fourth Wing should lead the overall company." he explained, a smile of relief coming to Cordelia's face as he seemed to pick up where they were in the conversation.

Frederick leaned back as Chrom nodded, his lips still held in an amused smile. "Good. I want the Feroxians to see we take this alliance seriously, even for something this mundane. Make sure your riders put their best forward Commander." he called as Cordelia nodded quietly. No one suspected there would be any combat or engagements aside from the odd bandit or the like but the Feroxians would be approaching this as a combat exercise, and so would the Ylisseans.

Robin tried to keep his focus as the talking died down to a shuffling of papers and quiet whispers among the other advisors, he really did...It was just so warm today, and his eyes were so heavy. His fingers started twitching again against the quill and his eyes closed once more...This time, it was not Frederick that woke him. No. His eyes closed and he felt the silence again, only this time the dark against his eyes lifted; A blazing fire swept over the blackness and terror filled his chest unbidden. Behind the fire he could feel something the same way one felt a mountain in the night, a vastness that rested on the edge of his senses and it scared him beyond words.

He snapped awake with a startled sputter, his quill clattering to the desk as he grabbed his face and sucked in a breath. If eyes had been on him before that was nothing compared to the blank stares from every occupant of the table, Chrom included. He was no longer looking bemused, he had leaned up out of his seat and was all but reaching for Robin who, for his part, had removed his hand and his heart thundered in his chest as he stared up and around the table. What had been a sheepish flush now turned to him casting his eyes down and trying to still his head as he placed both hands on the table.

"...Forgive me my friends, I fear I need to take a moment of fresh air."

Robin had never left a meeting before it's completion, often lingering to speak to those who would remain after it's conclusion and he would certainly never leave Chrom without support, but he did all the same. He pushed himself out of his chair and quietly pushed his notes to Chrom with a quick, apologetic smile before he stepped away towards the exit of the meeting chamber.

The hallway outside was much cooler than the meeting room with it's lack of windows and he leaned on the wall just outside the door, hearing the heavy wood close behind him. It took him a full minute of controlling his breathing before his hand stopped trembling, before his heart slowed and he began walking. He needed to get to his office and work, he could not return to the meeting room and do his duty with their concerned faces staring at him. Chrom would just...have to forgive this lapse.

* * *

It was another hour before Chrom had dismissed the meeting and not five minutes after that the door to Robin's office _swung_ open. Chrom rarely knocked when he came calling for his tactician and this was no different, but what was different was the way it closed behind him. Robin had a policy of leaving his door open and asking his guests to as well, except in times of secrecy; His duties meant he often had visitors and he liked them to feel welcome. Chrom stood in front of the door with one hand on his hip, the other hanging beside Falchion as he took in the sight before him.

The office was a cozy room off the main hall of the Ylissean Palace, large enough to fit a great oaken desk with a well padded chair on one side, in front of half a dozen bookcases and shelves filled with scrolls and lockboxes, while on the visiting side three comfortable chairs were set side by side. A lounge chair had been set on the right hand wall, under the only window in the office that was spacious enough to double as a bed which had been Robin's one personal request for the room. Ylissean flags decorated the walls, maps and graphs nailed into wooden board alongside them.

Robin himself was seated in his chair as always, his desk covered in mountains of papers. Notes, documents, official plans and correspondence, all of it was important in it's own way and Robin was as he always was. Pouring over them hand in hand, a pair of inkwells off to the side holding well worn quills and a small lamplight near a set of wax stamps that sealed letters or marked them as his own. Nothing was out of the ordinary, at least at first glance.

Despite splashing himself with cold water and adjusting his clothing, Robin knew Chrom would not miss the subtle things he himself had seen. The dark circles around bloodshot eyes, coffee thick in the room from a steaming mug on the floor, the way Robin had read this same line in this particular document six or seven times without moving on...

"Robin. What's going on? I've never seen you fall asleep during a meeting..." Chrom started, stepping around the desk and to Robin's side without waiting for an answer. The two men were always close and their relationship had become almost familial with Robin's resurrection so when Chrom placed his hand on Robin's shoulder the weary man leaned back in his chair and looked up at Chrom with a sad smile.

He hadn't slept truly in what seemed like weeks, that was what was going on. Every night he would close his eyes and that terrible vision would come to him; A fire hiding a vast presence behind it, a sensation of being empty himself. He could still move, still think within this dream, still feel helpless and alone in a nothingness that he had no way of understanding. It never changed, and it...it reminded him of something. Something he did not truly remember, but something he also never wished to either. It haunted him and even in his most peaceful waking moments he could feel it's claws stuck within him. Yet what could he tell Chrom? How could he truly articulate what was happening without worrying Chrom half to death?

Instead, he lied. "I'm sorry Chrom...I did not sleep well last night. Morgan insisted on bringing Nah and Noire over for the evening, and..." he trailed off, letting a lopsided smile come as he rolled his eyes. Chrom meanwhile laughed as he shook his head; After the war, Robin had insisted Morgan live a carefree life to make up for the horrors she had already witnessed and though she had her responsibilities she lived with him and often filled their home with her friends, the closest of which were Noire and Nah. Surely Chrom would sympathize, given his own daughter's presence in his life...Which, frankly, would buy Robin a pass. He hoped.

"Say no more. I was worried I was overworking you but if that is all, it is a relief. Why don't you take the day, Robin? I'll go over the most pressing matters myself and tomorrow we can sit down and catch you up." Chrom said, in a tone that was both charmingly concerned and brooked no argument; It _sounded_ like a suggestion, but the glint of steel and worry in the Exalt's eyes was not to be trifled with. Robin was liable to get himself carried home kicking and screaming if he tried to protest.

Instead he made a show of rolling his eyes and exhaling in exasperation. "Of course, _father_. I will do my homework and clean the floor before I go to bed, too." he half-muttered, still smiling as Chrom stepped back and rolled his shoulders. "Damn right you will."

The two shared a look and then laughed, Robin waving Chrom away as he rose and the Exalt actually waited for Robin to leave practically ushering him out the door...And when it closed behind them, Chrom reached around Robin and grabbed the ring of keys that jingled off the tactician's belt, prompting a surprised noise as Robin was actually physically pulled to the door. Then, using the key still attached to Robin's clothing, Chrom locked the office and released both man and key with a very confident grin. "There. Now you can't sneak back without someone hearing."

Without another word Chrom stepped away, leaving Robin furiously frowning at his friend yet his eyes were light with a smile. Leave it to Chrom to know him entirely too goddamn well for his own good, really. Once Chrom was out of sight Robin let himself sag a little and exhaled as he leaned on his own door. He felt weary and energized all at once, exhausted and yet unable to stop finding things to focus on...

It was as infuriating as it was terrible, and he was going to have to do something about it.

Yet even as Robin began to make his way from the palace, Chrom stepped back around the corner of the hallway once his friend was out of sight. At his side was Lucina and both mirrored a deeply worried frown. Lucina was the first to speak. "Are you sure he's lying?" she asked, only to be met with a nod from Chrom. "...I've known him long enough to know. I'm sure he has his reasons...and I want to respect his privacy." he explained, his arms crossing over his chest. "...but he's not alright. Do you think you could have a messenger brought to me, Luci?" he asked, turning to his daughter.

Despite his and Sumia being only together for only a few years their daughter Lucina had just turned twenty and stood even to her father's shoulder, her own blue hair longer and swept behind a band that kept it from her eyes. She dressed as she ever had, a battle uniform with a mantle and her own Falchion on her hip, mirroring her father's own outfit and style down to the way she held her hand near the side of it's sheath. "Of course. What are you planning?" she asked now, tilting her head as Chrom gave a rather cryptic, unsettling smile. "Oh, nothing. If he won't tell me what's going on...I know just the person to drag it out of him."

* * *

Somewhere not too far away a woman sneezed into a bowl she had been mixing ingredients into, her eyes narrowing as her hands shivered above the edges of the bowl. "...Hmhmn...Someone is talking about me. How dire..." she muttered, slowly leaning back on the bench she sat at. "They must be trying to curse me...Fools. I'll have to prepare my countercurses...fuhuhuhu...!"


	2. Requiem of Self

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Returning home and trying to absorb himself in his daily life, Robin is interrupted by an uninvited but welcome guest who guides him to understanding and accepting the changes coming over himself...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My original plan was to make the smut happen in this chapter.
> 
> Then I got to writing, and it got away from me.
> 
> So please enjoy a long, smutless chapter which precedes the first actual smutty chapter wait no please come back I promise someone is getting their tits out next chapter.

Uncomfortable. That was the word Robin would have chosen to describe his home, perhaps right after the words extravagant and intimidating. Throughout his entire life up until now Robin had no permanent home more stable than a tent or a cot in a barracks, even when he had been Chrom's adviser after the Plegian War he had slept in one of the Palace chambers. Chrom had insisted that he take a home this time and when Robin had begun selecting cottages, Chrom had forcibly moved his possessions into this place. 

It was just off the main road before the Palace by half a mile and to reach it one crossed a small bridge which ran over a deep stream that fed around in bending circles off into the forest and finally fed into a small pond near the back of the building itself. The land was rather lush and the walkway from the bridge was lined with well trimmed grass and square hedgework that guided one to his front door, a few small garden plots off to the side maintained mostly by Morgan and her friends. Trees bordered it on every side except the front providing privacy and a beautiful view; All in all, it was a wonderful home Robin could have never imagined living in.

Yet for all the simple beauty of the land, Robin had never adjusted to the house itself. Two stories in a sharp, elegant style with columns running along the outside connected to the roof, wide and tall windows in nearly every room on the first floor and only marginally smaller ones on the second floor. White and brown wood walls with blue roofing and shutters, gold trimming on the fixtures...It was beautiful and entirely too large for Robin.

Main hall, a library Robin used as his office, a side drawing room for meetings and guests Robin never had, a sitting room next to the kitchen and two downstairs guest rooms. A back door led out into a covered patio which overlooked the pond and the flattened, fenced off plot of land near the forest Robin had requested for training and drills. The upstairs meanwhile housed three more bedrooms and three bathrooms, two storage areas and a private dining room with attached kitchen.

It was too much. Robin had told Chrom this so many times, and yet Chrom would not hear it; He insisted Robin deserved it, Robin would need it for his family and himself even if it seemed much now and with no other recourse, Robin had lived here since his return. The only permanent occupant aside from himself was his daughter, Morgan and they both coped with the emptiness of the place in different ways.

For his own part Robin stayed at the palace when he was working and in his private time he caged himself in his office or in the upstairs portion of the house. A small staff came early and left before midday for cleaning, cooking and any other purpose Robin needed them but after that he handled the responsibilities of the house himself. Morgan had claimed the gardens for herself and her group of friends often helped maintain the flora of the land, much to Robin’s relief. Morgan, in that vein, busied herself by inviting over her friends and frequently spending the nights filling the house with laughter, joy and revelry...And sometimes unexpected surprises.

As Robin stepped off the path onto his front porch and into his house, he was nearly bowled over by a figure rushing from the door at the same time; A green-haired bundled of energy and smiles that stood just shy of his jaw level in height. Robin caught her as she ran into him, bracing himself against a pillar as to not lose his footing and when the movement stopped, Morgan pulled her head back from where it had collided into his chest and beamed at him. He’d met Morgan what seemed like such a short time ago and despite the fact he’d only met her mother three or so years ago, she was already well into her twenties.

Morgan was slender and tall, possessing incredibly expressive eyes and a positively adorable small nose that matched her thin and twitchy lips. She was almost uncannily similar in appearance to him, her face and features much the same with a sharp jaw and messy hair. Their only major differences was her more feminine charm and features...And her gorgeous, mossy green hair.

Her lips were split into a rather wild grin as she suddenly wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tightly, her head disappearing back into his chest in a rather full hug. “Dad! I’m so glad you’re home!...” she said, her voice sparkling with delight; and mischief. Almost immediately after, she threw herself around him and actually pulled herself up under his coat, pushing her arms up his back as if to brace herself. “You’ll make a perfect human shield!” she declared triumphantly.

“...Excuse me, Morgan?” Robin asked, his voice low with concern until the door burst open a second time in front of him.

The tall, muscular woman who was now standing in front of him was none other than Kjelle, a knight of Ylisse who much like Morgan was the child of another Shepard and had come to them three years ago fully grown and ready to join their war against the Fell Dragon Grima. Unlike Morgan, who took after her father to an almost scary degree, Kjelle bore much more resemblance to her mother Sully than her father Lon'qu. Standing level with Robin she was quite well toned and had defined arms which he noted with worry were currently clutching a broom like a spear aimed dead at him. She had her rich brown hair, arguably Lon'qu's biggest contribution to her appearance, soaked and plastered to her face. This somewhat ruined her normally well trimmed and straight style and covering much of her full cheeks and hawk-like nose. Her lips twisted in a tight frown and it wasn’t hard to see why; She was wearing a tightly fitted gray shirt and lilac colored riding trousers, both so soaked that Robin could see everything outlined underneath. Wide, gorgeous hips, slender thighs, sharply curved waist, the ample muscles above it and her full chest currently hidden behind a dark bra.

He processed this all in a few seconds, hardly long enough for Kjelle to take in his staring, but when he met her dark eyes he saw her open them wide in surprise and her grip on her broom-spear weakened, but then she seemed to glance down and notice Morgan’s legs behind his own. “G-Grandmaster! You’re in my way!” she yelled, moving to circle him. Meanwhile, Morgan behind him, tugged him in a circle to match Kjelle’s movements and Robin suddenly felt Morgan’s arms push through his sleeves, grabbing his hands from inside his coat and lifting them up.

Morgan’s voice rose from the coat in a slightly deeper tone, a poor parody of Robin’s own. “Knight Kjelle, as Grandmaster I order you to put down your weapon and acknowledge my beautiful, brilliant, hilarious daughter Morgan’s victory! It is not her fault you fell for the bucket over the door trap….” and Robin’s face fell, planting his foot firmly down on the ground to stop Morgan from turning any further.

Reaching back, Robin pulled up the back of his coat and sighed. “Morgan, please tell me you did not dump water on Lady Kjelle…” he said, half in exasperation and half in amusement. Morgan had spent most of her life trying to prove her wit and skill in tactics compared to himself and it often ended in...precarious ways. This was not the first of Morgan’s friends he’d found in a state of fury at his daughter.

Robin found Morgan’s collar and pulled out, untangling her from his coat in a few heavy tugs and shakes. When he pulled her free, she had an absolutely dazzling smile on her face as he held her in front of Kjelle and as he straightened her up, Robin began pulling his arms out of his own coat. Kjelle glowered at Morgan as she set the broom on the ground. “It’s not my fault Kjelle let her guard down!” Morgan protested, her lips curling into an adorable cupid pout as she crossed her hands in front of her lap innocently.

“You tricked me! You swore you’d help me pick something to wear for Lady Sumia’s birthday celebration, and instead you doused me as soon as we get to your room!” Kjelle snapped back, wringing her hands on the broom handle. Robin’s eyes turned to his daughter and stared at her...Which he could admit that it was a beautifully planned and executed prank, Kjelle was not the sort of woman to take such things lightly.

With Morgan not forthcoming to any degree aside from side glancing and innocently rocking on her heels, Robin instead played peace maker as he offered Kjelle his coat with a soft smile taking over his lips. “Please accept this for now, Kjelle. I’m so sorry for Morgan’s behavior and I’m positive my daughter is very sorry as well.” he said, turning to Morgan as his voice hardened in those last words, causing the green-haired ball of energy to nod several times and make an x motion over her heart. Kjelle for her part relaxed considerably, staring at Robin’s coat and reaching out to accept it almost gingerly, before pulling it over her shoulders. Only then did she look down to her top and realize her state, hastily pulling it closed and fumbling with the ties that secured it.

Morgan, Kjelle, Lucina and so many others had only come into the Shepherd's lives three years ago, during the worst of the war when the Valmese had invaded. Each one was a child of one of the Shepherds and each one came from a future where they had grown up in a devastated world that had lost the war with the Fell Dragon. With their help, Chrom and Robin had been able to avert the disastrous future that produced them and because that world no longer existed, they had nowhere to return to; Thus they stayed living with their parents, many of whom were of similar if not equal age. There had been disbelief and confusion for many of the Shepherds at meeting the adult versions of their not even conceived children, but all of them had eventually grown into their sudden presence. Morgan had brought an energy and passion to Robin’s life that he had never experienced before, and he loved his daughter to pieces...But sometimes she was such an extraordinary handful.

Kjelle, meanwhile, was every bit her mother’s daughter. Privately he would admit this meant she was just as ruggedly gorgeous as Sully was and just as tomboyish. He would never abuse his position as Morgan’s father to ogle and objectify her friends, but he couldn’t deny that seeing Kjelle in such a state was a happy side effect of having his daughter in his life.

With his coat over her shoulders, Kjelle crossed her arms and looked to Morgan a bit less angrily, but still had a frown plastered on her lips. With a soft nudge from Robin’s elbow however Morgan stepped forward and bowed her head a bit. “I’m sorry! I just wanted to have a bit of fun and loosen you up before we went shopping, I know how much you hate getting dressed up!” she explained and Robin understood the logic; He hadn’t seen Kjelle in anything more formal than her armor in the entire time he’d known her.

Leaning over and stepping behind his daughter, Robin smiled as he placed his hands on Morgan’s shoulders. It made sense why Kjelle was on edge as Sumia’s birthday was a rather big deal in Ylisse considering her status as queen and the celebration would likely involve a formal ball or event at the palace, and there wasn’t a chance Chrom wouldn’t insist the Shepherds attended in full. “It sounds like Morgan had good intentions, but I admit she could have...made better decisions.” he said softly, still smiling disarmingly at Kjelle who was staring between Morgan and her father. “Morgan. Go take Kjelle up and get her dried off...And once you’ve cleaned the floor, you’ll get my coin from the study and pay for her tailor visit, got it?” he asked, looking down at Morgan.

It sounded like a punishment, but all Morgan heard was ‘Dad is paying for me to dress up Kjelle’ and she was immediately grinning like a loon, rushing forward to grab Kjelle by her wrist. “Thanksdadwegottagonow!” she called, rushing into the door with a now bewildered Kjelle who reached out as if she was going to say something to Robin, but then they were gone.

Standing without his coat on the porch, Robin exhaled loudly and reached down to adjust his shirt before stepping in behind them. At least it would keep Morgan busy for a few hours…

Navigating himself into his home, Robin made his way to the kitchen and went for a jug of water as he heard footsteps and clamoring upstairs. It was best to stay out of the pair’s way for now. Stepping to the large window that looked over the back of his property, Robin let himself relax a bit as he poured himself a glass of water and watched the wind cast ripples over his pond. 

Seeing Kjelle in such a state pulled up numerous feelings and most of them were not precisely pure...He’d been the adviser, personal life coach and support system for the entire Shepherd group during the war and he had not let himself grow physically close to them, it wasn’t right. Not when they were relying on him to guide and command them, not when there was a war distorting everyone’s perspectives and feelings...There was only one woman during the war that he had felt he could court without guilt, and though he hadn’t seen her since his resurrection her image brought a smile to his lips. He’d never forget her slender fingers linked with his, the way her hair had haloed her head as she laid next to him…

A booming snap of his front door slamming shut broke Robin from his daze, prompting him to step back out of the kitchen and listen for Morgan or Kjelle; Dead silence. They had left then, and Robin could now roam freely...But instead of going upstairs to his bedroom, Robin hesitated only a few moments before he walked towards his office. 

Immediately a wave of comforting nostalgia swelled over him as he stepped inside, the large space filled wall to wall with something to do; From the books lining the floor and shelves on the left, a table strewn with them and piled next to his reading chair, to the large wooden desk to the right with reports and scrolls piled on it. The idea of retiring to his room and laying in bed until he felt tired filled Robin with anxiety, but working until he could not keep his eyes open anymore?

That was how Robin had found himself lately. Exhaustion had claimed him many a night only for his rest to be cut short by his jolting dreams, so he had begun to absorb himself. Even more than usual, stagnation was his natural enemy. He had always busied himself in activity, be it his work for the Shepherds or expanding his knowledge base, studying tactical texts or magical tomes, practicing his skill at arms, physical drills or even such simple things as trying his hand at cooking...He had always rebelled at the idea of simple relaxation, always striving to fill his days with some new input even if it was as simple as a new book.

So instead of rest, Robin moved into his reading chair and settled down with a contented sigh. It was a well padded, rounded chair with a wide seat and high arms that let one since comfortably into it, a small shawl over the side in case of chill and he reached out for the first book off the pile. The cover read Grima, with an image of the fell dragon on it- Robin’s hand shook as he dropped the book to the floor, heart hammering in his chest almost abruptly. No, he had no books on Grima, he’d kept them utterly out of his collection since the dragon had fallen…

Reaching down with his fingertips tingling, Robin held his breath as he lifted the book; A Grimoire of fantastical Ylissean beasts and legends, depicting a large serpentine beast in an exaggerated style. Robin released his breath and tossed the book aside onto the table, his fingers coming over his face and covering it as he tried to ease his nerves with a series of calming breaths. He was just tired. Just exhausted. He’d been thinking about the war, and his mind was playing tricks on him. It had nothing to do with the dreams. Nothing to do with the feeling in his heart.

His breathing control began to slowly work in his favor, easing his nerves as he repeated his mantra of how it was nothing. There was no connection. No meaning behind it...Yet even as he relaxed himself, something began to prick at the back of his senses. A presence. Not that of a hostile intent, but like a pair of eyes drilling into the back of his head. He hadn’t felt this for months, not since-

“Tharja.”

Turning his head, Robin once more lost his breath as he looked at his desk. The sunlight outside was dimming behind the tree line and it cast an orange-purple glow over the room which fell around the woman sitting on his desk. She was seated on it half-standing, using her palms out to either side to brace herself up. Tharja had never been anything but stunning, but time had only added to her beauty. Her long, dark hair fell like a curtain behind her shoulders and still cut to frame her face perfectly, bangs kept in check by a golden headdress she wore yet length had added a certain wildness to it, strands flicked over her neck and bare shoulders. She no longer draped herself in the garb of a Plegian sorceress, no more nearly sheer bodysuits, but instead she wore a rich dark purple robe with gold accents decorating it’s hems and edges. It stopped just above her bust line and the sleeves were cut to expose her arms, held on by fabric on the wrists and it trailed down to her hips which were equally cut and exposed, the bottom of the robe slitted to allow her shapely legs to be displayed.

Her face was heart-shaped and her eyes narrowed, her lush lips in an expression he could only compare to a cat eyeing a meal...Perhaps a tiger, given the way her dark brown eyes narrowed at him, her thin nose seemingly twitching. Yet when their eyes met that gaze softened, and her expression flattened into a more somber and dour look when she rose.

If there was anyone he had reason to be concerned about sneaking into his home, it wasn’t Tharja. Her reputation as a master of hexes and curses notwithstanding, Robin was fond of the woman. She had been infatuated with him during the war and after he’s returned from his death, she had been one of the first to welcome him back with arms tangling around him and a heartfelt murmur of missing him. They’d remained close, but neither of them had acted on the feelings she had obviously had for him.

During the war, Robin felt as if he’d be taking advantage of her...And after his rebirth...he hadn’t known how to broach the subject. Not with so many questions surrounding everything that had happened. She hadn’t made any overtures since, and their relationship had cooled into very close friendship driven by their intellect and magical prowess.

Yet as she stepped towards him, Robin felt a knot form in his throat. It had been a long time since Tharja had looked at him like that, and then it had fallen apart...Of course, she had to have seen how he looked. She had to have seen his reaction just now.

He rose slightly to meet her and yet Tharja did not let him, a soft wave of her hand prompting him to settle back down in his seat as he looked up at her. Her slender fingers spread over his face and she knelt down to be at his eye level, using her free hand to carefully check his eyes. Being this close he could smell a sort of dusky, earthen perfume clinging to her that he suspected was more a byproduct of her work as a sorceress than any attempt at femininity…

It also made it impossible to ignore how full the chest of those robes was, or how her fingers twitched across his cheeks when she touched him. “Oh Robin…” she murmured, almost dreamily, before she tapped his cheek with her palm in a very soft imitation of a slap. “How long have you been suffering through this…?” she asked breathily, prompting him to lower his eyes. “...I’m not sure. A week? Two…? I’ve...lost track.” he replied, hating how ashamed his voice sounded in the exchange.

Yet there was no judgement on her face, a thing he would eternally be grateful for, and she moved now to seat herself on his knee almost in a lounge even as she kept her feet on the ground. She closed her eyes and kept her hand on his face, holding his cheek in her palm as the other moved in a soft, arcane motion. A mutter from her lips and something washed over him, a feeling of electricity flooding from his face to his fingertips and down to his toes. Her brow furrowed and she lifted her hand, flexing her fingertips before opening her eyes. Her face was puzzled, and she placed her hand back against his face, eyes open and staring into his as the motion repeated itself.

The mutter and the electricity came again, but this time she kept her hand held to his cheek, lips pursing into another bowing frown. “...Robin, what’s happening to you…?” she whispered almost as if in a trance. Robin’s eyes widened, and he reached up to his face as if he could feel what she had. “What is it? Tharja, tell me.” he spoke, his voice heavy. So many scenarios fell through his mind, every worst case and every fear he’d felt since the spells began…

Tharja’s hands fell on his chest and gently pushed him back, holding him to the chair even as he tried to lean forward and she shook her head. “Relax Robin. Don’t overreact right now...You’re liable to make things worse. Let me help you.” she spoke, and her voice seemed to relax Robin.

“I felt you after your resurrection…You were whole. Different, but whole. Now...it’s as if something is building inside you. A rush of something trapped behind floodgates of your own mind and soul.” she explained, and Robin’s hand trembled.

“Grima. He’s returning.”

It was his darkest fear. The thing he refused to acknowledge to himself for the past year. He was...something artificial, something not quite human and not natural. He’d been created by a dark sorcerer for the sole purpose of housing the Fell Dragon, and he had been given a fragment of the Dragon’s power. The dark future that Morgan and the other children hailed from was one where Grima had successfully taken Robin’s body and used it to wreck untold havoc but even here, in a world that had been spared Grima’s destruction, Robin had still been used and controlled by Grima’s power…

He’d known, by using that very same power to strike down Grima, that he would die. He was a part of the Dragon then and only his sacrifice could end it’s rampage. To save his friends, to prevent any chance of the dragon’s return, to preserve the world, Robin had done it. That should have been it...Yet he’d returned. Naga, Grima’s counterpart, had claimed it would happen due to his bonds in this world. That he could cast off Grima’s shackles and remain.

Yet a part of Robin wondered if that was truly it. If there was not some darker destiny awaiting him after his return...And now it seemed he was correct. It was why he had yet to truly reconnect with the other Shepherds or truly embrace his new role. A dark part of himself wondered how long it would be until it was all snatched away. Until him being alive once more brought Grima back upon them, until his revivasl spelled doom for the world. He had always felt his very life had an hourglass tied to it...Yet Tharja’s head suddenly thrashed to and fro, her eyes wild and narrow at the implication. “No. Robin, you fool...you slew Grima. It is gone. You are you, and only you…” she said, her voice sharp at first and then softening until her palm was caressing his cheek again.

“I don’t know what it is yet...But we can find out. Together.”

She had softened again, her fiery and dark countenance turning more tender as she sat with him. This was her way with him, fire and brimstone softening into lace, and perhaps only with him. He’d seen her temperament with others and felt glad he was spared it in any measure. “How?” Robin asked now. He knew Tharja had delved into many different branches of the old magics, especially after Grima’s death. He had personally arranged for her to be able to research the dragon’s body after his return, with Chrom’s oversight of course.

“It is simple. I will place you under a sleeping hex, and join you in your dreams. Once you are asleep, we will be free to explore this power, and discover it’s origin. Together.” she explained, pulling her hands to her lap and watching his eyes as he processed what she was saying. It made sense, truthfully, given how deeply his dreams had been affecting him lately…

Yet to share that with her filled him with a sharp trepidation. What if it was something dark, if it was something of Grima returning? What would become of her if such a thing came roaring to the surface? He opened his lips to protest, to voice his concerns, but she suddenly placed her fingertip against his lips and smiled in a way that was sweet, and dark all at once.

“I did not say you had a choice, sweet Robin.”

Her hand came up under his chin and he heard her whisper words, his head filling with fog as she leaned into him. He felt his body go limp under him as darkness covered him like a blanket and all he could not feel was Tharja’s warmth on his chest, as if she was laying across him as he drifted to sleep…

And then, as suddenly as darkness came, fire roared to life before his eyes. He was staring into it again as it blazed in the emptiness he had confronted so many times before. His heart still shook at the depth of the flames, at the vastness threatened behind it and he lingered there in the void of his own mind as the terror welled up inside him…

Until a hand grasped his own, a body coming into his back from behind. Tharja’s warmth surrounded him again, and he felt her head on his shoulder even if he could not see her. Together they looked into the flames, and he felt his tension and terror ebb. The emptiness was no longer so deep, the vast flames no longer so threatening without the loneliness that they brought with them. The same loneliness she dispelled.

“I am right here. Do not be afraid of the darkness within you.”

With those words and her releasing his, Robin stepped forward into the emptiness. Flames licked his hand as he did, rising up around him and yet they did not scorch him as flames should...Instead they seemed to pull inside him. Filling his hands with warmth and power, with a sense of fullness he had not realized until now had been lost.

His head swam as the fire flowed up his arms and into his chest, dispelling the great blaze surrounding him until it was now but a flickering wall in front of him and opposite him stood...Himself. Yet not. He recognized it as the part of him that represented Grima, the hooded specter of himself that had haunted him in Plegia and beyond...It stood behind the fire now as a phantom, watching him with an eyeless gaze. Robin hesitated, his foot falling backwards and the flames rushed up around him without warning, even as they did not harm him.

Was this what he had feared? Some part of him still belonged to Grima forever, his soul branded by the dragon’s influence and forever a victim of it’s machinations? Yet even as the thought happened, he watched the specter of himself seem to lower it’s head and grow crestfallen at his rejection...And when Robin stepped forward again and the fire receded, it threw it’s head up back to look at him. More footsteps in the now lightless dark, with only himself to face, and Robin was now standing right in front of himself.

Robin could still feel the tremble in a hand he could not see, his body just as blank as the rest of the darkness...And when he lifted his hand and touched the figure in front of him, he felt something burning inside of him. Something changed almost subtly, everything shifting and reorienting until he was staring at empty space. He looked down and now he could see himself, see his hands clenching and unclenching...He could see Tharja standing in the distance, her brow furrowed in confusion.

All at once it began to pull together. Memories unfolding in two perspectives. The moment he decided to strike down Grima. The moment he gathered every ounce of Grima’s power within him to fell the dragon, the moment he accepted his own death and unleashed it all. It had emptied him of the dragon’s essence, but that was Grima’s power. This was his own. He had always been a reflection of Grima, he’d been designed to be the dragon’s host, but when he had killed Grima, he had not removed the dragon from existence. It’s power and it’s energy had fled it’s form as it would have if it had simply been sealed, and it had over time sought it’s form once more…

Except Grima was dead. It’s power had no will behind it, no malice laced through it. It’s power had gathered to the most acceptable vessel that still existed...Him.

Without warning something thudded within Robin’s chest and he fell forward, his body suddenly burning hot and freezing cold all at once. His eyes fluttered and his hands felt heavy as he tumbled into the darkness of his dream and everything faded even as he felt his hand caught in another’s grasp.

For the first time in so long, Robin fell unconscious into a dreamless and exhausted sleep.


	3. Dark Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rested and free of doubt for the first time in years, Robin and Tharja wake together and reunite in a passionate way, though some things slip their notice in such distracting circumstances.

It was dark when Robin opened his eyes for what felt like the first time in years. Seated on the comfortable cloth of his chair his world slowly came into focus. He was in his office and no one had lit a lantern, which meant Morgan had not returned yet to wake him and insist he find his bed. In the silence of his home where normally there would be nothing, Robin could now hear for the first time just how noisy his home was. Wind rustled the leaves outside, water slowly lapped on the rocks in the pond. A bird of some kind landed on the windowsill and Robin grabbed his head, inhaling sharply. 

There was a thudding in his chest he recognized as his heartbeat and now every movement carried these dull scrapes and cracks...he could feel his very joints moving, hear the dull crack of his weary body and a soft whisper of breath... that was not his own. Finally paying attention to himself now Robin realized there was an incredibly light weight on his frame; Tharja. 

She had pulled the shawl over herself and his legs, splayed out over his lap with her head resting on his chest. He could see every detail almost perfectly, the dim light of the moon through the window washing over Tharja's form. She was beautiful and utterly captivating to watch, the gentle part of her lips as her chest rose and fell in soft waves of breath. Her chest was pushing into his arm, he noticed right away, and had she always smelled so good? Had she always felt this good against him?

It happened almost abruptly, realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. He wasn't tired. It wasn't just that he'd finally slept, no, it was...a complete refreshing. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so sharp and clear, especially lately...Of course, he wasn't about to get up and run around the hall just because he could. Instead Robin reached out and pulled his arm around Tharja, tugging her closer as he leaned back into the chair once more.

Almost reflexively the woman seemed to curl into him and Robin smiled as he reached into her hair, his fingers stroking along the back of her neck as he basked in this sensation of clarity he now felt. Of certainty. He'd spent so long fearing Grima and his past that he hadn't let himself grow close enough for this kind of intimacy and fittingly Tharja was the one who had pushed him to it.

He didn't notice Tharja's eyes opening until she shifted to turn her head, burying her face in his neck much to his surprise and inhaling deeply as both of her hands grasped the collars of his shirt and balled her fists against them. Holding on for dear life as if afraid he might disappear and he felt her untangle herself from him to sit now facing forward on his lap, her knees on either side of his thigh and he could feel her against his leg as if she was pushing herself into him. 

Robin brought his other arm around her now and continued to simply stroke her as she remained pressed into him. She shivered at the touch to her neck. "You had me worried. I wanted to stay until you woke and now...you will want me to go." She said, lifting her head and she must have thought he wouldn't see her face. Her bottom lip sucked under her teeth, the anxious way her eyes kept moving downwards and just...how different she seemed. Tharja was confident and calm around everyone but him, and it was incredibly endearing.

* * *

When Robin had first come back, Tharja had thrown herself at him. He was even more incredible a second time, having beaten death itself to come back whole and yet when she'd seen him, she'd seen the change more acutely than perhaps anyone else. The hesitation, the doubt, the distance he put between himself and others even as he pretended there wasn't. So she'd told herself she would be there however he needed her to...Her Robin. They had become friends, sources of companionship for one another but nothing more. 

There weren't any others truly worthy of her devotion, not in the way Robin was, so Tharja had busied herself in her work. There were still so many who desired her hexes and curses in the wake of the war so she had begun selling her services. Then Robin had asked her and another Shephard, Henry, to thoroughly examine Grima's remains and ensure the fell dragon was well and truly dead. Delving into the dragon's secrets had eaten up much of her time since.

When Lucina's messenger had arrived she was back in Ylisstol for the first time in almost two months. She had come to see Noire and report some of her findings, but...This was more important. Perhaps there was the expectation she would be able to help him with her hexes or curses, or perhaps Chrom was playing matchmaker...It didn’t matter. She would go to the ends of the world for Robin no matter the Exalt's motives. 

She’d known immediately what was wrong, just by the way he reacted upon seeing her. Weariness was not one of Robin’s faces, but there it had been. She’d felt the power imbalance inside him, connected with that flickering flame inside his soul and helped him draw it out. Now the part of her that craved Robin’s attention found itself balking at the idea of being alone with him and having nothing else to do for him. They were done, she’d helped and she’d go now. She had already pushed the bonds of their friendship by falling asleep atop him after he’d gone unconscious.

Yet when she resolved herself to stand off Robin and move away, Robin’s hand caught hers. She shivered at it in the darkness and looked to him, only to find his other arm curling back over her waist. “No.” came the soft yet sharp response, making the hair on her neck rise up as Robin’s fingers slid between hers and she was pulled into him...And his forehead met hers in a sweet gesture that made her eyes close tightly. “I want you to stay, Tharja.”

* * *

It wasn’t just the lingering threat of some sort of resurgence being finally gone that provoked Robin into holding Tharja close. She’d seen that part of him he had been afraid of and she’d hardly balked, but then why was he surprised? She was always attracted to the darker side of things, it was her that saw their beauty, and as Robin held her hand close he felt a peace settle into him. The feeling of being so intimately close to someone else…

It also brought with it a slow, dawning yearning in the pit of his stomach that he felt no need to not act on. His eyes closed and he tilted his head up into hers, his lips connecting with hers. Her reaction was twofold; An immediate pull away of her head, her hand flying to her lips and touching them as her eyes widened...And then they narrowed. There it was. That hungry fire she’d shown him when she’d been waiting for him, before she saw the state he was in. Her eyes darkened and she snapped both hands to the side of his head. Her lips collided with his hard enough he was knocked back into his chair and her fingertips drove into his hair, scratching down to his cheeks.

Passionate didn’t describe it. Their lips melded and broke apart at every angle as Robin’s hands came to Tharja’s hips, her tongue the first to break through and dive under his, his own curling against hers in response. It was clear that despite him initiating this, she was the one driving it. Tharja’s hands flew to Robin’s shirt and he felt her grip the collar, a groan of exasperation passing her as she realized it was not a button-up. Her hands slipped down and grabbed the hem of it over his pants, tugging the tunic up and up until it came up over his neck and only then did she break the kiss, yanking the shirt free.

Robin couldn’t help the sly smile on his face as he slipped his hand to Tharja’s side. “Suppose this is a bad time to say I just want to cuddle?” he asked, Tharja’s eyes meeting his with her own amused look, before it was overtaken again. “Be quiet and kiss me, fool.” she shot back, diving back in with such intensity Robin knew his lips would bruise before this was over and he met it. He’d never acted on it, never put it into words, but Tharja was sensuality and desire personified ever since they’d met. She would do anything for him and until now that alone had stopped him. It had been a frightening prospect when he didn’t trust himself.

Now?

“Robes.” he half mumbled through the kiss and almost immediately she was diving her hands under the waist of her robe. He heard a distinct tearing sound as the clothing came apart from the force she was using. The top came apart in two pieces and she broke the kiss now to pull herself up. The pieces came off in handfuls of formerly whole cloth and at first it was her waist exposed, her gorgeous slender hips bare save for the hints of black lace that Robin almost couldn’t wait to see. Then her stomach was exposed as she lifted the remnants of the top off revealing her flawless skin, her petite frame devoid of muscle or fat, like endless silken canvas he couldn’t wait to ruin with his lips and hands. All that remained when she tugged the final bits of her robe’s ruined top off was a black bra, held by straps that ran under her arms with a gap in the middle connected by a golden loop of metal. The front was laced and he could make out her breasts underneath, the faintest hint of a dusky nipple making his hand dig into her hip in anticipation.

Though the bottom of the robe remained for now it was almost a formality, it would be so easy to sweep it away and expose her complete to him, but he desperately curious to see how far this streak of hers went...This passionate, uncontrollable desire and hunger to please him she had always shown now inflamed beyond her control. The sensation of dampness on his thigh, where her panties met his clothed leg, was becoming too much to ignore as well.

Yet as soon as her top left her, Tharja’s hands came to her bra and without hesitation she twisted the metal loop in between the two straps, unhooking them in an almost explosive way that sent the cloth falling off onto Robin’s lap and a pair of full breasts now freed into his face. They dangled every so slightly from the angle as she reached up into her hair and shook it free, pulling her headdress and tossing it into the distance with a metallic clatter that Robin found himself chuckling at. That didn’t last long as she pushed herself back down to capture his lips again…

* * *

Every nerve in Tharja’s body was on fire. Robin’s hands were on her hips holding her down onto his thigh and every movement in their kiss made her pussy grind into him through her now hopelessly ruined lace panties. Now her breasts were crushed into his bare chest and she could feel the nipples scraping over his rougher skin and her heart hammered in her chest at just how good this felt. Finally being touched and held by him, after so long! Her Robin had her the very instant they’d kissed and it was as if a bell had gone off in her head. She wanted him, she’d always wanted him, and now he wanted her too. Would he find her pathetic for how instantly she’d lost control of herself? Would he think she was a whore, a slattern, grinding and disrobing so readily for him?

If she had any doubts, their eyes met again and in the dark she could see how passionately he was watching her face. Her every movement. Through the kisses, when their bodies met or parted, all of it. He wanted to see more, and by everything she was going to give it to him. Just as soon as she could pry her lips from his long enough to think for two seconds. As was often the case however Robin seemed to read her mind and she felt a soft shift below as one of his hands left her hips and pushed against his leg, two fingers curling up under her. The very moment his fingertips pressed into her he found her clit and she shrieked into the kiss.

Her head went back as a storm rumbled from her core all the way to her brain and she grabbed his hand, pushing it into her. Wanting more even as she gasped for breath. Robin’s hand was touching her, Robin was touching her. How many nights had her hands dug into the same places, sought the same pleasure? Even combined they didn’t compare to this one moment and she felt her hips shake as she almost numbly realized she had cum from just that contact, dropping her head down to stare at Robin’s eyes, now practically twinkling in delight. She needed to pull herself back together…

And then his fingers began to grind into her clit again and she buckled forward, her head falling into Robin’s neck with another strangled cry. “Ohgggghh- Robin! Nnhrobin!” she whimpered into his neck, burying her face into his scent as he overwhelmed her. It took one hand and two fingers, and every wild desire she’d had to show him her need was completely erased with a flood of pleasure. Sparks and embers burnt her nerves with every touch and she craved more. She had to have more!

His fingers hooked and pulled at her panties, pulling them aside as those two fingers drove past her folds and into her now soaked pussy, which sent her head thrown back as they spread her. His fingers were just a little thicker, just a little more worn, just a little rougher than hers and somehow those minor differences made light explode in front of her eyes. She bit him. It was all she could do to keep from howling and he didn’t even recoil as those fingers dove inside her and buried themselves up to the knuckle, his thumb curving in to press into her clit at the same time.

Robin’s neck throbbed ever so gently from the way Tharja was biting down on him to hold herself back but even still the room exploded with her calls and cries; His name fell from her lips in a babbling succession and some part of him thrilled at the idea that he’d taken control. She had been the one driving this, but now she had all but surrendered to a simple touch. He really had kept her waiting, hadn’t he? He was just glad Morgan wasn’t home yet...He’d have to explain this all later, but certainly not now. Not tonight.

His fingers continued to dig into Tharja’s sopping sex with his fingertips stroking the walls, his mind somehow clinically absorbing every detail even as he marveled at how tightly she clung to his fingers. She was tight and she felt like waves of grasping velvet even with how thoroughly soaked she was. He could only imagine how wonderful she’d feel when he was really inside her, a thought that was beginning to overtake his desire to repay her all the pleasure he’d denied her up until now.

Then he felt it inside her. A rough little patch inside her, against her walls, that caught his attention and he knew what he’d found instantly. Tharja went dead silent as his fingertips arched against it, swirling a path against it, and her entire body froze. The moonlight that illuminated the room had grown brighter as the night continued and now he could clearly make out her body. It started as a tremble in her hips that rolled up her back, over her shoulders and into her neck, her entire body shaking like a leaf in a terrible storm until her mouth flew open. 

“ROBIN! YhhhhesssROBINROBIN-” she started, until the noise devolved into a scream of sheer joy and pleasure. Her eyes opened wide and he watch her lips flicker between a smile and open in numb amazement, her fingers grasping at his hand loosening and tightening in a rhythm as she shook. Her pussy flooded, almost literally, her orgasm dripping down his fingers and onto his thigh now. Her breath failed her and she gasped, and Robin finally remembered where his fingers were and removed them as he sucked in his own breath. He’d been lost in how absolutely amazing she looked in this moment.

He wanted more.

* * *

The study door had been slightly cracked when Morgan and Kjelle had returned from their excursion to the tailors which had also turned into a wonderful supper and a few items for Morgan herself, thanks to her father’s generosity. When Morgan had stepped in front of the doors, Kjelle in tow, she’d gasped softly and practically dragged the knight into the view of the opening and pointed to Tharja, curled against Robin and both content in sleep. While Kjelle merely smiled at the sweet sight, Morgan was clutching her several cloth sacks to her chest and sighing dreamily, which made Kjelle look at her from the corner of her eyes and then roll them.

It had been ages, actual ages, since Morgan had seen her father do more than politely smile at another woman. Hell, the man was surrounded by gorgeous ladies and he was a war hero. He’d died! How did a man not use that as the most amazing ice breaker? ‘Hi, my name is Robin, I’m the Grandmaster of Ylisse and I’m so amazing I brought myself back from the dead’. Women, men, it didn’t matter, Robin would be swimming in swooning bodies by the end of the night.

No, instead he busied himself working until he collapsed every single day and dusting himself off to follow her around and clean up her messes, take care of the other Shepherds, solve Chrom’s every slightest problem without hesitation and sure, all of that was really amazing and impressive and other really nice complimentary words it was also so frustrating to watch. Watch as her father wandered their empty house when he thought she wasn’t looking, watching as his face fell into these brooding silences that he was wasting by not showing them to the ladies because even she thought he looked pretty good when he was brooding and silent.

So to come home and find him with actual female companionship? It was like all her birthdays had come at once. Finally, her father was using his remarkable powers for good!

She and Kjelle had quickly retreated to the room Morgan occupied, deciding it was a good idea to leave the pair alone and that should have been that...Except it took way longer than Morgan had wanted to convince Kjelle to let her watch her try on some of her formal wear, and then it took them even longer to settle on a look for Sumia’s birthday!

Soon they had settled on a very striking lilac and white formal suit that Morgan had picked out for Kjelle, just enough to allow her to keep her preferred style while added several decorative ribbons in place of buttons and a shoulder cape that was dashing as well as feminine. Kjelle had been against it but eventually agreed, especially compared to Morgan’s other suggestion; A gown. Morgan had successfully baited her into wearing the suit because, as was obvious, Morgan was a genius who would always get her way.

That was when the first cry carried down the hall. Her father’s name and Kjelle looked at Morgan like she was a deer about to be hit by a horse or something, instinctively tightening her grip on Robin’s coat that she was wearing in the cool air of the night. She’d been wearing it since they’d left, and after they came back come to think of it, but Morgan had more important issues to consider than Kjelle’s attachment to an old coat; Was her dad really getting it on with Tharja?!

So Morgan had left Kjelle that instant, tossing her the suit and slipping out into the hallway with all of her roguish skills. Not that sneaking down a dark, carpeted hallway at night to peek into a barely moonlit room was much of a challenge, but Morgan’s heart was beating so loudly she was a bit afraid her dad might hear it. Then she leaned into the open doorway, just in time for Tharja to damage her eardrums; Those screams were unreal! For a dour mage, Tharja had a set of lungs on her!

The moonlight made it so easy to see Tharja convulsing atop Robin’s knee and Morgan could even make out the way Robin’s hand was rocking between her legs but Morgan couldn’t see her father’s face, which frustrated her for a number of reasons. She also couldn’t see Tharja’s, but she didn’t exactly need to see it to know the woman was losing her shit in the most positive way. Especially when the sounds stopped and Tharja fell into Robin, her hands moving to grab at him. It was almost sweet how Tharja immediately went to kissing across Robin’s neck and chest, but Morgan could see Robin’s face now and he looked far too pleased with himself. His smile was far too heated and he was staring at Tharja far too hungrily.

It made Morgan gulp. 

It made Kjelle swallow nervously too, which Morgan realized dully as the woman was standing behind her and Morgan nearly jumped, until she realized Kjelle was just as transfixed.

Neither of them said a word to the other as they drank in the scene. 

Robin moved for the first time, pushing Tharja softly to the side and she fell over the side of the chair, clinging to it as she panted for breath in a distinctly un-Tharja way, but when she looked back at Robin it was easy to see that dark gaze that was much more the sorceress’ style as she shifted to let Robin up. When exactly did her dad have back muscles? He was actually pretty sturdy looking, especially as he rolled his shoulders and grabbed Tharja’s clothes, tugging them off…

Feeling her face go burning red Morgan covered it with her palms, but she of course spread her fingers apart. She had to see this! For...tactical reasons. It had nothing to do with it being incredibly hot, it was just tactical. Who knew why Kjelle was watching, but as long as she didn’t blow Morgan’s cover then who cared?

* * *

Tharja looked absolutely breathtaking. Curled against the chair, her legs spread and her body bare for him. Robin had been hard for this entire experience but in meeting her eyes again he felt his cock pulse under his far too confining pants, reaching down to unbuckle them and let them fall away. Tharja’s eyes widened and she shivered again before lunging forward, but Robin caught her hands and guided them to his hips. He could see exactly what she wanted, but he had other plans. “Not tonight Tharja...I want you first.”

Still Tharja’s head pushed against his cock through the rather plain gray cloth he wore under his pants, her voice breaking in a whimper as she looked up at him...And then defiantly bit at the top of the offending cloth, tugging it down with her teeth as a smokey look overtook her. What right did she have to be so damned enticing? He bit his lip and still found it in himself to push her back, reaching down to yank his underwear down and off his leg after. He wasn’t exactly hung like a horse, but he considered himself fairly large and Tharja’s look of excitement agreed even as she slipped back on the chair.

She whirled her legs apart in a rather hypnotic pattern and pulled her ankles onto the sides of the chair, her eyes moving up from his cock and to his own where she seemed to stare at him even as her fingers pushed between her legs and spread herself for him. That was all the invitation he needed to lean forward and push one hand onto the chair beside hers, using the other to guide his now throbbing cock to her lips. The head touched her folds and she stifled a whimper, then lost herself into a keening little gasp as it pushed inside. He wanted to draw it out, to pull these gasps and moans from her until she couldn’t do it anymore, but he was losing his own battle to the pleasure already.

He’d been right at how she would feel. He pushed the head inside and she clung to him so desperately he almost swore she’d pulled another few inches inside without him realizing, his breath disappearing as sweltering heat and liquid velvet surrounded him. Her legs flew around him and she used them against his waist to pull him forward, hungrily devouring his cock as her fingers clasped the sides of the chair and her teeth connected with her lip, biting down. She was visibly shaking and struggling to contain herself again, but there was a focus on her face. Every inch made it strain worse and worse, until he was halfway inside her...And her concentration broke.

“Fuck! FUCK! ROBIN!”

Her shoulders and back arched as her grip twisted into the fabric of the chair, her nails gouging the cloth deeply until the stuffing was tangled in her fingertips. Her eyes squeezed closed and he watched her tongue slip from her lips to lick across them in a daze, her pussy spasming wildly against him. Practically milking him, sucking him deeper inside her and he obliged. His desire to see her give into him, to see how far he could push her, is likely what drove his next action...Which was to simply thrust himself inside her to the hilt.

If she’d sounded lost in the pleasure before it was nothing compared to now. Her voice cracked into a wavering whisper that he could barely hear at first until her breath caught again and it rose into a squeal. Pure, unrestrained lust left her lips and filled his head, her eyes leaking unbidden tears and her pussy now clamped down on him. He tried to drag his hips back and found he could barely do so, he was stretching her as it was before and now her walls were collapsed onto him as she hungrily drank in the pleasure he was providing.

Tharja’s squeal broke as he moved, restarting with a series of nearly hyperventilating pants when he pulled the head of himself to her lips once more and drove back in. The pleasure was unbearable and yet Robin couldn’t cum despite literal years of being without sex; He was too fascinated by these sensations, by Tharja’s reactions, especially as the woman finally seemed to regain herself. Without warning she flung herself up from the chair, her hips still holding him inside her with her ankles crossed over his back and he marveled for a moment at her leg strength to hold herself up like this.

Her hands dug into his neck and shoulders from behind as she kissed him and he grabbed her by her ass, holding her up now even as the pair began to move against one another. Her driving herself down onto him, him using his hips to roll his cock against her walls and into her pussy. The lips of her clung to the base of him with the smell of sex awash and the slap of their hips joining her stifled but still keening whimpers into their kiss.

A particularly hard thrust down by her had her nails digging deep into his back and he knew she was drawing blood, but it didn’t even register as pain somehow. It was all mingling into reckless and wild pleasure that was overwhelming him almost completely. Their kisses met hard, teeth clicking together, tongues pushing against the other’s and sucking pulls had their bottom lips being popped free of the other’s mouth. Combined with the feel of her against him, how her walls rippled around him, there was nothing Robin could do to hold on.

He drove into her one more time and her head swung back as he buried his face into her neck. He couldn’t even feel his legs as he began to cum, the sensation of fluids rushing and his body reacting something he was acutely aware of even as he was able to feel Tharja writhing against him. Without a word he collapsed forward, resting her on the chair and his knees caught it to hold himself up. Minutes passed before they finally fell apart, her slipping her legs off his waist and dropping to his side as she fell apart in a sense. Her arms dropped and her head fell into the chair, her stomach twitching and shivering as she let out an absolutely gorgeous gasp, her lips curling into a delirious smile. She was covered in sweat and fingers were shivering as his seed leaked from her and yet she looked as happy as he'd ever seen her. 

Above her, the sight had completely overwhelmed any chance Robin would soften and he was hardly panting let alone winded, as he smirked down at her. Understanding dawned on her features and she drifted her gaze down, her arm lifting to catch his cock in her hand and he twitched at the sensation. Then her eyes lifted back up, already smoldering once more, and her ankle hooked around his thigh as she nudged him forward.

“More?” she whispered in a breathless need. He couldn’t help but chuckle warmly back. “Always.”

* * *

Kjelle stood up behind Morgan and almost seemed to stumble off towards the stairs, using the wall for a bit of balance and Morgan looked up to watch her walk away. She had Robin’s coat tugged to her chest and was rapidly disappearing into the darkness, and Morgan didn’t stop her. She was breathless and kneeling down at the door, keeping herself enraptured at what was happening inside.

She could already see round two starting and she couldn’t just leave this now! There was way, way too much to see. Her night was just beginning, she wasn’t even going to contemplate missing this for anything! Her dad was finally getting some! It was exciting! Way, way too exciting...Surely it was just excitement that had her sweating. Excitement making her clothes moist in the oddest places.

Excitement, yeah. Her fingers dipped between her legs and she shivered as she touched herself, her pussy soaked through her pants. Definitely just excitement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I promised smut. 
> 
> This is my first publicly posted and visible sex scene, and I feel like I did everything I wanted to do with it. Tharja was an interesting character to write. 
> 
> Things are beginning to take shape for future chapters, I hope everyone is excited!


	4. Morning Reverie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A single night has set desires and wants in motion for more than just Tharja and Robin. As the pair continue to baskn in their passions others are beginning to awaken theirs and all of it leads to a surprise visitor...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> So with this chapter I've introduced the three 'set' women who will become involved with Robin in the next few chapters and I will be taking suggestions to pick out our next girl to join the fun next. 
> 
> I'll be allowing any girl from Awakening and maybe some ladies from other Fire Emblems, if y'all want to make me deal with outrealms, and we'll be assuming the SpotPass content where Emm and Aversa survived are a thing too, so. 
> 
> The only girls hard off limits are Sumia, Tiki and Nowi. Some for plot reasons, some because I've got issues with how Awakening handled Nowi and I'm not sure I wanna write her yet. 
> 
> If you have any suggestions please feel free to slap them into the comments! Additionally I'm also opening my Discord if folks want to get in touch with me privately. 
> 
> Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoy the story!

Waking up on the hardwood floor in his study was more uncommon than one might expect of Robin. True, many nights he had simply neglected to retire to his room and bed instead curling himself up in his chair with a tome of some interest or import. Yet today the morning light coming in through the window caught Robin’s face at just the right angle to irritate his eyes despite being closed and he muttered a soft curse for the beautiful daylight disturbing the soundest sleep he could remember having. He was laying on his back, his arms over his chest and nude as could be; A thought that made him slowly open his eyes. In the back of his mind he knew Morgan had to have seen some part of this. Seeing him nude was, frankly, the better of the options consider the fact Tharja had likely been in a state…

Despite how soundly he’d slept, despite how exhausting the previous night should have been, Robin awoke sharp and refreshed. Not a tingle to his hips or an ache to his neck despite knowing Tharja had to have given him the mother of all bruises there. So it was no surprise that the memories of the night before were incredibly vivid, enough so that his cock stirred pleasantly between his legs. One particular memory had him turning his head and he found himself staring at his desk, some three feet to his right. The papers and tomes previously covering it were now scattered to the floor in a chaotic fan behind the chair and he could see the marks where he had pushed the desk across the floor. Bringing both hands to his face he inhaled rather deeply and tried to sit up, unable to hide the beaming smile on his face.

He wasn’t even halfway to a sitting position before he heard a soft whimper from below and he pulled his hands away. Tharja was curled against his legs in a contented manner, her head resting just above his waist and her hands rested on his hips, spread fingers across his skin. She was smiling in her sleep, a peaceful and utterly captivating grace to her features that made her seem softer than she did when she was awake. Without even meaning to Robin’s hand moved forward, sliding into her hair in a soft stroke as he contemplated how he was going to get up without disturbing her.

Her state was just as bad as he had thought when he had woken up. Stains lingered on her skin, the smell of sex lingering between them both and her hair was absolutely mangled. Bits and pieces were stuck in place, others had frazzled from friction and pulling...If anyone saw her now, would they even recognize her as the composed and intimidating sorceress she was known as? He doubted it and yet somehow that thought filled him with a sort of pride at knowing he had so thoroughly undone Tharja.

Slowly pulling himself upwards again Robin reached out to slide his arms around Tharja’s form, moving her as he began to stand. Soon he had risen to his feet and with her light as a feather in his arms he was able to cradle her against his chest, one arm under her knees and the other on her back. She barely stirred except to nuzzle her lips against his chest with a deep inhale, which was followed by her murmuring his name in a dreamy tone. 

Robin was well aware Morgan had to be home by now, she rarely stayed out late enough to spend the night elsewhere and even if they both lived their own lives fairly independently they tried to have breakfast together each morning as a point of connection...Which meant, given where the sun was, Morgan was already up and around. Maybe she had gone downstairs to make breakfast already?

In the spirit of avoiding her he did make his way carefully out of the study, ignoring his own scattered clothing and instead fishing up the shawl that he and Tharja had discarded shortly into their night and used it to cover Tharja’s sleeping form. He would handle it if Morgan saw him nude or in his state, but he wouldn’t suffer Tharja to be seen like this when she was defenseless. Who knew what Morgan might do or say the next time she saw the sorceress after today, and then he’d have to make Tharja dispel whatever curses she’d use on his daughter...It was safer this way, frankly.

Passing the unused guest room near the study and the door on the right that led into Morgan’s room, Robin was surprised to see the door still shut and no light coming from beneath it, but he brushed it off. She was either still asleep or had through some miracle shut her door and closed her curtains before she left...Which meant she likely hadn’t seen much this morning and that was a relief all in itself.

The last door at the end of the upstairs corridor was Robin’s room and he opened the door into the darkness of his still drawn curtains yet still he could see perfectly. His room was exactly as he had designed it; Spartan and comfortable. A double bed tucked into the back left corner with a gray duvet drawn over it, two pillows laid one overlapping the other and one of his spare coats thrown over the bedpost. Books had collected on the night table and on the floor near the foot of the bed while a large wooden trunk laid at the foot of the bed. Along the wall, opposite the bed, was a number of shelves and cases which held items of importance or note, along with a large map of the continent he had kept since his early day following Chrom.

The right of the room was mostly empty, save for carpeted floor and several flags draped across the walls. Three windows were spread around the room, two on the wall facing the door and one on the wall beside his bed, at just enough of an angle the sunlight couldn’t directly hit it but at the right angle for a lovely night breeze. Two doors were on the right-hand wall which lacked a window, one to his private bathroom and one to walk-in closet he had never bothered to fill. Most of his clothing came from his trunk and he had yet to truly fill his room with anything even now…

Padding his way to his bathroom, Robin opened the door to the tiled room and reached up to twist the lantern on the wall that now rushed to life and filled the room with light. It was a simple setup despite it’s size; A nice, wooden tub built into the floor and a washbasin nearby, a set of shelves filled with a number of small odds and ends Robin had hardly ever used and a large, fluffy towel on a rack. There was no place to draw water from, nor any place to heat it; Originally there had been a sort of dumbwaiter in the wall he could use to draw heated water from the kitchen, but Robin was well versed in magic.

A few enhancements of his own would make the tub and basin fill automatically at a simple spoken command and the water would heat on it’s own as well. He’d had quite enough of latrines and well water during his time in the field, he allowed himself these luxuries now.

With the dim light filling the room Robin now moved Tharja in his arms lightly, pulling one arm up around her back and over her cheek to stroke it softly. “Tharja?” he murmured, her eyes fluttering immediately and she looked up at him still as peaceful as ever, smiling brilliantly...And then her eyes slowly widened, her hands moving to his face and she seemed to catch herself, quickly dousing the look of shock on her face before her normal expression settled in.

Lidded eyes and a soft furrow in her brow, yet her lips were coyly grinning. “He...Hello Robin.” she murmured back, her hands moving to her chest where she began playing with her fingers.

“I thought you’d like a bath with me, I seem to have made a mess of you.” and now Robin couldn’t even deny he sounded proud, looking down at her as a flush took her cheeks for all of two seconds, and then she snapped up at him with her lips. Another kiss that landed like a slap, their lips smacking together and melding as her hands slipped up onto his cheeks. It lasted for all of a few seconds before she slipped back into his arm, curling her head against his chest and her flushed returning.

“...Mmhmn. I remember, you did...Mhhhh, I remember.” she replied, her words soft at first until she nearly moaned the last past. She began to stretch against him, her shoulders and back rolling into a lazy unfurl like a long slumbering cat. Her hand came to his chest and she idly began scratching a circle into him with her nail, a soft continuous motion of contentment.

Quickly muttering the word of command, Robin moved towards his tub and lifted his leg to step inside. Hot water rushed up from the bottom to meet his foot and when he stepped fully in it was now moving up to his thighs. When he sat down Tharja seemed to shiver as the water covered her legs and up to her chest, her arms drifting out to lazily float in the water while he leaned back on the tub wall. There wasn’t anything to say yet, both of them were enjoying the moment and each other’s presence. Robin knew there would be a time to talk later, but this certainly wasn’t it...Not as Tharja’s head nestled into his neck and she kissed his jawline.

* * *

Down the hallway, in her room, three of Morgan’s fingers furiously worked into her pussy, her hips arching off the bed as she bit her other hand near the thumb. Her clothing had long since been discarded and her sheets were soaked in a mixture of sweat and other less savory substances; She’d been lost in herself since the night before and unable to pry her hands from herself, let alone sleep any time recently.

Repeatedly her fingers disappeared down to the middle joint inside her and then withdrew, curling and tugging her her folds and her chest rumbled in pleasured moans, but frustration joined it as her hips slammed backwards into the bed. That wasn’t right, it didn’t feel like it should have. Morgan’s hair was matted to her face and she released her hand from her mouth to sweep it back over her head with a huff, her fingers still inside her.

The events of the night before kept coming to her, unbidden at first. Tharja’s screams and moans, her body twisting and tensing in so many ways Morgan had never seen anyone but perhaps Olivia in her dances. She had never shied away from admiring men or women alike and Tharja was fucking hot, but that wasn’t what frustrated her; It was her father.

She kept trying to imitate what she had watched her father do. The way he’d used his hands, the way he’d pulled and tugged and pushed and stroked. Her now free hand ran down her chest and over her breasts just as Robin had ran his hand over Tharja’s and while it felt good, it didn’t feel as good as Robin had made it look...She had two bountiful handfuls for breasts she knew for a fact perfectly matched her luscious frame and hefty ass, but Tharja’s chest was so much bigger, so maybe that was it?

It couldn’t be that it wasn’t Robin touching her. She was just as good as her dad, even if he sometimes- Well, frequently, outsmarted her during their practice sessions and beat her at spars. She could make herself feel just as good! Even if his hands were so much bigger and rougher, and even if she couldn’t feel the lust he’d shown when he touched Tharja...And even if she couldn’t throw herself over a desk and fuck her until she thrashed his papers to the floor. Even if she couldn’t...What was she thinking about?

It wasn’t fair! Where was HER mind shattering orgasm? True she’d dragged herself over the edge a good half dozen times since last night, but it was missing a certain something. Like her father’s cock rearranging her cute little untouched pussy like it owned it- Her fingers plunged inside herself again and she came immediately at that mental image, her hips thrown up into the air and whimpering wantonly. Her other hand was squeezing her breast and rolling her nipple between her fingers until her hips fell ands she crumpled into the bed...Yet still she hissed in agitation and pulled her hand to her face.

Aw, shit. She wanted to bone her dad. This was going to make their breakfasts awkward as hell.

* * *

If Morgan was having a difficult morning then Kjelle was by comparison in her own world. Quite literally wandering home after the night prior, she had stepped into the home she shared with her mother and taken a seat at the kitchen table, then stopped moving. She had instead held the heavy coat Robin had given her over her lap and continued to run it through her fingers in circles, undoubtedly fraying or ripping pieces of it in her distracted motions.

After the war, Sully and Kjelle had decided to have a home of their own to adjust to their circumstances, especially considering Sully had found herself pregnant at the end of the war with the baby girl Kjelle would grow up to be. At the time it had been the three of them; Sully, Kjelle and her father, Lon’qu. The taciturn Feroxian had remained with Sully throughout her pregnancy and for some time after, but both Sully and he seemed to have an unspoken understanding...Sully was a knight of Ylisse, sworn to Chrom and Lon’qu was the right hand of a Feroxian Khan. Even if they loved each other both were honorbound to their respective lords and Regna Ferox was in dire straits after surviving it’s invasion. Basilio had needed him and Lon’qu would not deny his Khan, Sully was needed in Ylisse and would not abandon her kingdom or Exalt.

Lon’qu had left sometime after Sully recovered from childbirth and Kjelle shared little more than a fond embrace with her father before he’d left. So it was just the two of them, plus her younger self, and so Kjelle spent much of her free time with her mother. They were close, more like sisters than mother and daughter half the time, and Kjelle would not trade it for anything.

Right now however she needed to be alone with her thoughts, especially considering how disorganized they were. She wasn’t supposed to have seen what happened last night, that was for sure, but then Robin hadn’t bothered at all to hide it so he deserved someone getting an eyeful. Morgan’s reaction of elation was...not at all surprising considering the woman’s weird yet charming nature. So Kjelle wasn’t wringing her hands in some moral sense, their circumstances made them more peer than child to their parents as she herself had experienced with Sully.

It was just...It was Robin. Grandmaster Robin. It was hard to rectify the image of the man who’d led them to victory over Grima with the man she’d seen last night. She could still clearly remember how, despite being so plain looking, he’d handed her ass to her during their initial spars. Back when she thought her armor and her strength would win every battle, back before Robin had made her understand she was more than strength and size. Sully would reinforce those lessons later, but Robin had been thr first man in this time to hand her such a sound and meaningful defeat.

Even now he continued to be great to her, after she grew close to Morgan and began visiting their shared home. He always made time for her to discuss anything she had on her mind from her training to how weird it was living in the same house as her past self. Some little part of her had even grown fond of how he called her Lady, not using it in the same flowery way Inigo or other men had. He meant it as exactly what it was, a respect for what she’d accomplished, and it made it somehow real for her to hear him say it. She respected him in turn a great deal.

It was just a little hard to think of him in those terms after he’d made Tharja scream loud enough to make her ears ring. It wasn’t like she’d never thought of him as a man, he was a damned handsome one and he’d been strong enough to defeat her, but he never put it out there like some of the other Shepherds and she’d...well she’d just never found a good time to tell him of her fondness for him. So Tharja had swept in and stolen- No, Tharja hadn’t stolen anything, she just hadn’t made a damn move! She could have told Robin months ago that half the time she came over it was just for the excuse to see him and she hadn’t, so she’d lost.

That thought burned and she shook her head, lifting the coat she was fraying close to her chest while she leaned back and closed her eyes. Yeah, that was what pissed her off the most about all this. How good he actually looked with another woman. That it was Tharja, someone Kjelle had always written off as a bit of an enigma, was also hard to wrap her head around. Robin was strong and smart, so why was he with someone who wasn’t as strong as him? That didn’t make any sense. Relationships were supposed to be between equals, her mother had taught her that, and Tharja just didn’t seem Robin’s equal…

None of it made any sense! She was a damn knight, she wasn’t supposed to be pining after someone like a puppy dog, she should...she should be...The wind left her sails as she exhaled again into the empty room. She was having trouble sorting out her head right now and she was starting to think this was too much for her to tackle alone. Maybe she should talk to someone.

Definitely not Morgan, not about this. Even ignoring that she was starting to suspect the girl was just as into her father as she was, there wasn’t a single part of her that thought Morgan’s advice would be anything more insightful than ‘show him your ass’. That left a suddenly very small pool of people she could turn to for advice, one of whom was her mother.

The door clicked open and Kjelle looked up, watching as Sully stepped inside with a brown-haired baby tucked onto her shoulder. A satchel was tucked under her other arm and the elderly nanny Sully had hired to help raise baby Kjelle was close behind with another pack. With a fond smile and a gentle waggle of her fingers Sully handed the baby off to the nanny to take her for her nap, before turning to the grown version of her daughter seated at her kitchen table.

Kjelle met her mother’s gaze and smiled, but she knew right away Sully knew something was wrong. For one thing, her mother read her like a book. For another she hadn’t slept and was clutching Robin’s coat to her chest. It wouldn’t take a mind reader on this one…

“Kjelle? What’s up?”

* * *

A short bath had left Robin feeling even more refreshed while Tharja herself had seemed to have slipped even further into a contented and comatose state. Neither one of them had talked about what was going on, or what this meant the entire time. So when they emerged into the bedroom and Tharja slipped her arms off his waist to step over to his bed, then hesitated as she looked back, Robin knew it was time and had walked closer after her. He had grasped her hand and pulled her with him, tugging her into the bed to sit against him, their damp forms curling into each other as he held her around her waist.

“I want to see you when I get home.” he said, abruptly, deciding that beating around the bush was not the smart choice with Tharja. She needed directness, especially from him.

“I’m not leaving, not if you don’t want me to, Robin…” Tharja responded in a breathy whisper, now leaning back into him with her head curling on his chest. “I’ll be here whenever you want me, for however long you want me.” she’d added with a rather sly grin, her arms moving to slip around him and hold him in reverse. Robin couldn’t help but return her look as he gazed over her body now on display for him. She looked absolutely irresistible right now and he had to remind himself that he still had an obligation to go to the Palace today…

Still, Robin could indulge a little. His hands moved up from her waist and curved up over her chest to feel her breasts once more with his fingers pinching her nipples tightly between them. She melted instantly, shivering and grinding back into him with a needy little whimper. “That means you’re my woman then, hmn? Sounds like I need to look into getting a ring…” Robin started before Tharja shook her head.

“N-no! I won’t...I won’t need a ring. I don’t want one. N-nothing changes...I’ve already been your woman for three years. You just didn’t notice.” and she looked up at him with her eyes full of naked desires, her lips curling as she turned around in his grip. It was a slow, careful thing and she moved in such a captivating way he couldn’t help but lose his train of thought, until she was kneeling on his lap. “My wonderful Robin. I told you I’d give my life if you asked, once...and I meant it. Toss me aside, fuck me raw, tie me to the bed, take others with me, tell me of your other conquests. As long as I please you.” she breathed as she pulled herself into him, her lips closing in over his for another kiss.

For her part it was passionate and deep. Her tongue probed his lips, her teeth caught his bottom lip, her hands held his hips. Robin returned it in an extraordinarily confused fashion, trying to break free as he used his hands on her chest to gently pry her off him. “Hhh- Hold on, Tharja...Other conquests?” he murmured, leaving her inches away from him with darkly needy eyes. “I don’t...I haven’t had any other-”

Her finger came to his lips and she leaned forward, kissing a path across his cheek as she shifted off him. “Mm. Because you were afraid to. Because you weren’t whole...and now you are. Everyone’s going to see it. I want to see them throw themselves at you...I want to see you satisfied, happy, all because of me.” and Robin found himself unable to muster a response to that. It was true, Tharja had always been very keenly devoted to his satisfaction and happiness, but this seemed...It made sense in the most Tharja of ways.

“And if I say I’m only yours?” Robin asked, questioningly, to which Tharja shook her head.

“That’s sweet...and not realistic. There are plenty of other Shepherds who’ll want you, and I want to watch you prove yourself better than them. I want to watch them draped over you...Besides. I’ll have more than my share.”

The idea that there would be others who wanted him was something Robin genuinely hadn’t considered, but then he hadn’t exactly had much time to consider anything that had happened in the less than a day since he’d left the Palace...So instead of arguing, or questioning, he just nodded and leaned in to press a kiss to Tharja’s lips. One that she returned with a fervor. His mind continued to race even as they kissed however, leaning back until she was draped over him on the bed. Was she giving him permission to...cheat? Was that the word if she was willing for it? Somehow he had trouble believing it would even be a question yet Tharja seemed oddly certain.

There was a new question to consider however, one asked as Tharja slipped her hands between his legs and grasped his cock with a breathtaking moan into their kiss. Did he have enough time before he had to leave? If not, he supposed Chrom would be starting without him…

Without giving Tharja any warning Robin rolled and pushed her by her hips, sending her onto the bed and onto her stomach. Her legs dangled off the edge of the bed and Robin quickly swept up behind her, his hands sliding to her thighs and then down to her ankles where he pulled her legs apart. She was flushed as she looked back over her shoulder at him, her hands grasping the blankets in anticipation...And then he yanked her towards him, leaning down just enough to send the tip of his cock between the lips of her sex.

Just like last night she let out an absolutely addictive little moan and whimper, burying her face in the blanket even as he grasped her by her thighs and began to push even further forward, stuffing more of himself inside her. Just like last night she was tight, sopping wet already and every inch of him made her entire body spasm uncontrollably. Her teeth caught the blanket and she pulled it as her head fell back, all the while Robin could only grin at how easily she fell into this.

A minute ago she’d said she wanted to watch him do this someone else and here she was completely coming unraveled herself. It made him want to see how far he could go with her, to test that devotion she had...So he grabbed her thighs and pulled them up. It was almost surprising how easily he hefted her lower half off the bed and then he’d just let loose. His hips slammed into hers as he bottomed out inside her and before she could even finish twisting his blankets in reaction he’d yanked himself back, then slammed home once more.

Using his grip on her hips he didn’t let her bounce or move with the steadily growing pace of his fucking, his length disappearing in rapid motions that left her tight walls in complete disarray. They would clamp down on him as he pulled back and still be tightly clenched when he pushed back inside her which spread her entire pussy apart all over again. He couldn’t see her face but her voice was starting to rise up even through clenched teeth and a blanket, a strangled scream providing an excellent background for the torrid sounds of his hips wetly impacting hers and his sack swinging forward to swipe her clit eliciting an extra octave rise in her sounds.

“FHHK MH RHIN! PHES!” she called, muffled and hoarse as he braced himself against her and continued to pick up his pace. It should have been exhausting, he wasn’t even stopping to catch his breath, he was just plowing her. His cock would slam into place deep inside her and he’d be yanking it free once more, her tunnels clinging to him every step of the way and her body now rocking from the hips up. His grip kept her lower body in place but the bed was shaking along with her torso from the sheer force...And she was loving it. Her body began to twist to and fro under him, thrashing in pleasure.

It was hard to think straight with so much pleasure engulfing him but Robin could swear he saw Tharja’s eyes rolling back into her head for a moment before her pussy quivered against him. A fresh flood of her lust soaked him and began leaking down his thighs, then she was screaming out again with her tongue loosely hanging from her mouth. “Hhhhnsgoooood! So-o-oohROBIN!”

Tharja sounded so good it was addictive. Like he was constantly trying to outdo himself with how she moaned or screamed. One of his hands slipped off her thigh and moved to her shoulder, pulling her into the thrusts and the added depth changed her tone from a higher pitched squeal to a more guttural sound each time his shaft filled her. Then her hand untangled from the bed and searchingly grabbed for his until she found it. Then she grabbed and squeezed it tightly, fingers lacing with his sideways. 

"Please, please, p-please cum for me! I need it!"

Her voice was cracking in and out, her skin covered in sweat once again from exertion and the toll of her, from what Robin could tell, flood of orgasms. He could feel how close he was, how much her folds squeezed him but until she called for it he was almost able to push it aside. He'd been so invested in Tharja's reactions that he had barely noticed his own need until now. 

So he gave her what she wanted. He pulled back on her and barely stifled his own groan of release as he buried himself inside her. Their flesh practically melded together with how tightly she was stuffed and when he came Tharja began shaking underneath him. Her voice began to rise in a wild keening sound that was accompanied by his hand being squeezed like she was trying to break it...and she was, judging by her twitching tunnel wrapped around his rod, cumming once more. 

Several moments passed during which Robin leaned down and began kissing Tharja's neck from behind which only seemed to make her quaking release worse which in turn made her walls milk him even further and which made more and more of his hot seed spill inside her. It must have been nearly two minutes before he finally felt himself stopping and Tharja slumped forward with her face buried in the blankets.

Robin exhaled slowly and began pulling himself out of her as he made to stand and found that curiously she wasn't responding to his movements; His cock slipping out of her, his hands moving off her, even a gentle nudge to her ass didn't do anything. So he reached around her and turned her head. "Tharja?" He spoke, his voice a tad worried given her complete lack of response…

Tharja's eyes were completely closed, her face blank except for a lurid smile creasing her lips. She was still breathing and it took Robin a moment to understand he had pushed her into unconsciousness... which made him smile a little too pridefully, standing straighter behind her.

Meanwhile Robin was beginning to note that despite the fact he'd just fucked harder than he ever had before he wasn't so much as sore. His cock was still hard between his legs and only now beginning to flag but otherwise he felt as if he could go another round, maybe ten...There was no overwhelming need to nor burning desire, it was simply that the heat in his gut hadn't dissipated or lessened in any degree. It was a perfectly manageable level of lust...it just simply hadn't gone away with his release. 

For the first time since the night before, Robin considered Tharja's words about what exactly he'd experienced in himself. It was power, his own power, untainted and free of Grima's malice, but it was becoming apparent to him it had affected his body in some very real, meaningful ways. He'd need to speak to someone about this, perhaps find a way to get a feel for these new developments…

At the moment however he needed to tuck Tharja in and get himself ready for a long day of catching up on his work.

* * *

It hadn't taken long, maybe twenty minutes in all, for Robin to right the unconscious woman into his bed and find new clothing for the day; a simple white long sleeved shirt and charcoal colored trousers with another of his signature coats thrown over his shoulders. Robin's fashion had not changed at all since the war and he was quite comfortable with that. 

On his way out of his room Robin stopped outside Morgan's door, softly twisting the handle to open it and leaning to peer inside the crack. Morgan was clearly in bed, her hair sticking out of her blanket wrapped around her and she was snoring incredibly loudly...he was surprised he hadn't heard her from the hallway. He mentally noted the clothing scattered on the floor, some of which was new and began to piece together her night. She must have been out shopping all night with Kjelle and stayed up too late trying it all on...an explanation that conveniently allowed him to pretend his daughter and her friend did not hear Tharja's howls of pleasure. 

He left her to rest and closed the door behind her before making his way downstairs. The staff had begun to arrive, Robin's chief butler the first among them; he was a quiet, older man who was quite refined and tended much of the personal duties himself. Robin greeted him and the pair talked a moment, mostly Robin explaining the need to not disturb Morgan or his welcome guest, as well as telling them if Tharja came down they were accommodate any request she had. 

Robin was at the front door of his home and opening it before he heard movement on the porch as if someone was pacing back and forth, the sunlight pouring in and letting him see his guest fully. 

It was a stout and rather impressively muscled woman, her short sleeved white shirt stretched over her slim bust line and tucked into a pair of dirt-red riding pants that did not hide her thick thighs. A sword was also hung off her belt, glinting in the sunlight and Robin met her eyes now. Her face was lean and her eyes were narrowed at him, with her signature half frown on petite lips and scars dotted her from her fingers across her arms, even her face and neck. 

Even without her short red hair wildly shook and tousled into a forest of spiked ends and pulled out of her face Robin would have recognized her anywhere. 

"Sully?"


	5. Going Down Swinging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As word quietly spreads and Robin's changes become more pronounced another Shepherd becomes entangled with him. His life is changing one way or another, especially as more and more of his friends become involved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks!
> 
> I'm going on vacation soon and I wanted to leave a long, fun chapter for everyone to digest! I hope you all enjoy it and thank you for the feedback you've given me as I keep writing!
> 
> I'll be taking a brief hiatus while on vacation but when I get back I'm heading right back into work!
> 
> As always leave a comment or feel free to shoot me a message on Discord!

Anyone who asked what Sully’s biggest flaw was would likely have a few to rattle off, but everyone including herself agreed that a top contender was her lack of patience. When she had stepped into the kitchen she had been fresh from a day of tending to her household’s needs, the week’s shopping and the like as well as clothes for little Kjelle and she had been unprepared for the sight of her daughter, her grown daughter, seated at the kitchen table looking like Sully had never seen her before. Kjelle was not a particularly feminine girl and Sully was damn proud of it, so to see her looking...lovesick, for lack of a better word, had put her on edge immediately.

Sure, Kjelle had downplayed it. A lot of ‘I’m just tired’ and ‘intense training’ got thrown around, but Sully knew better. Hell, Kjelle kept up with -her- nowadays without a single complaint, so the idea that anything else would have her worn down was downright inside...But Kjelle wouldn’t budge. She had insisted that everything was just fine...but then Sully had pointed to the coat and asked her what Robin had to do with this. Then Kjelle had turned her eyes down and everything sort of came tumbling out.

Kjelle’s little crush, visiting with Morgan and coming to see Robin with Tharja, it was a flood of information that had Sully doing her best not to chuckle at first. Of course Kjelle would have a thing for Robin...She had been the first to hear about how the tactician had laid Kjelle on her ass during their first spar, then the second before Kjelle finally got it into her head that just being big and strong didn’t win every fight. Sully had never thanked Robin for getting the jump on that lesson for her.

Yet the mention of Tharja and the peep show had Sully a bit concerned, even as she sat down and crossed her arms over her chest. She’d been there when Tharja had freshly joined the Shepherds, the way that she had practically glued herself to Robin’s shadow and Sully also knew her reputation since. She hadn’t exactly hounded him like she had, but she had never made it a secret that she still held a candle for him either. While Sully didn’t necessarily like being suspicious of a comrade, she couldn’t imagine Robin doing what Kjelle was describing…

Of course Sully did her best not to think -too- heavily on what Kjelle was talking about because she wasn’t ready to go to that place right now. Much like her daughter Sully respected Robin a good deal and had always thought pleasantly of him, so the idea of him sending Tharja into ‘howling fits’, as Kjelle blushingly described it with her hands positively strangling Robin’s coat, put all sorts of interesting images in Sully’s head.

That she hadn’t let a man put a hand on her since Lon’qu had left for Ferox almost a year and a half ago had a lot to do with that as well. There’d been a short supply of interested men and none of them had even been worth a second thought no matter how lonely it got sometimes. None of them were on her level.

Still, Kjelle was looking at her expectantly after her story finished and Sully almost blanched as she realized Kjelle was genuinely in need of feminine advice, something that was exceedingly rare in their relationship. It made Sully remember she was letting those sorts of thoughts crop up in regards to a man her daughter was interested in and who might be in a relationship of his own. “Erm, Kjelle…”

Sully wanted really hard to just tell Kjelle she should talk to her friends, but that wasn’t what Kjelle was looking for. So she inhaled and put her hand to her face, rubbing her temples as she struggled for something positive to say. “Look...Robin is a good man, and I’m glad you’re interested in someone like him. So get some rest, and talk to him.” she said, causing Kjelle to widen her eyes at her. “The worst that’ll happen is he’ll tell you he’s with Tharja and you can let go of it. I didn’t raise you to pine after what you wanted, did I? I raised you to get what you wanted the old fashioned way!”

It wasn’t exactly an emboldening speech, but Sully wasn’t the pep talk type. Not about this, anyway…

So Kjelle had thanked her with a smile on her face and a bit of a thoughtful expression and Sully had stood up, fully intending to get her armor on and report to the Palace for her duties that day...Yet somehow, she had quietly slipped out of the house and made her way towards Robin’s home. Everyone knew where the man lived, mostly because Chrom had tried to pass the house off on six different Shepherds before Robin had succumbed to his pressure. It was just too big for most of them, especially after living on the road for so long.

She didn’t really know why she was heading there or what she’d do when she got there, but she couldn’t ignore that doubt she’d had about Tharja...It was probably nothing, and Sully was just being paranoid. Yet there wasn’t exactly any harm in checking in on the man. It had been a few weeks since she’d really talked to him anyway. A social visit wasn’t really any harm if it turned out to be nothing...At least that’s how she justified it to herself. Maybe she was a little curious in the back of her mind what had provoked this sudden interest in Tharja if not the woman’s magic at play.

Crossing the little wooden bridge that connected Robin’s land to the rest of the road, Sully wasn’t surprised to see a few of Robin’s hired staff milling about on the outskirts of the property tending to the hedges and a few stray weeds. They greeted her with small bows and she waved them off as she stepped past them, then onto the porch. That was when she stopped, crossing her arms over her chest and looked to the window near the doorway, seeing movement inside.

She waited only a few seconds before she resolved to knock on the door, but the door opened before she had a chance. There he was. Robin and her were face to face and he looked more surprised to see her than he ought to have, but there was a sudden flash of understanding on his face.

“Sully?”

“How’s it going, Robin?” she asked, still unsure of how to set her face as she looked past him. Aside from a butler and a maid roaming around in the kitchen, she didn’t see anyone so she turned back to Robin himself. He looked good. In the year since his revival he’d actually gotten a bit more handsome, a bit leaner and more muscular given how often he drilled with the other soldiers and she could appreciate the slightly shaggier look to his hair. Yet something was a little different…

It was his eyes, more than anything else. He’d always been sharp as a razor and his eyes reflected it, but there had been something almost heavy hiding in them for a long time. She’d always chalked it up to something he’d experienced during the war, or after his death, or any of a number of things that weren’t her business. Now thought? Those eyes were sharp and despite the slight look of uneasiness he had, clear as crystal. Nothing weighing him down anymore.

It didn’t help that he was filling out his clothes nicely, perhaps more than she remembered, and he had this oddly attract disheveled look to him that she probably shouldn’t have been dwelling on so much.

“I’m well, thank you. It’s been quite some time since you’ve visited, do you want to come inside?” Robin asked, his smile quite genuine and he stepped to the side as if to let her in, but she shook her head.

“Nah, thanks though. Maybe later? I just wanted to have a quick chat with you in private.” she explained and that unease grew on his face, his arm coming up as he rubbed the back of his neck. Yet he didn’t try to excuse his way out of whatever was on Sully’s mind, instead nodding back to her.

“I’m actually on my way to the Palace, Chrom will surely have fallen into despair without me there to keep Ylisse from catching fire, so why don’t we talk and walk at the same time?” he offered and reached to close the door. Sully nodded and the pair were off, turning from the house and heading down the road.

Though she still crossed her arms over her chest and Robin still did not look quite comfortable, he pulled his head high and kept his hands at his side. There were a few moments of silence as they came to the bridge and when Robin seemed sure they were out of earshot, he quietly spoke. “I hope Kjelle is alright? I suspected she and Morgan had a late night.”

It was just like Robin to lead a conversation. He was expressing concern for Kjelle and probing Sully at the same time and she fell into his pace without realizing it. “She’s doing pretty good, said she thought you had some company at the house last night.”

That made Robin’s face flash a little into something between understanding and a grimace. “...I apologize, Sully. I do not have any excuses for last night. If Kjelle is not comfortable coming back I’d-” he started, stopping near the edge of the bridge and turning to her with a serious expression.

Sully rolled her eyes and cut him off. “My daughter’s a grown ass woman, Robin, not some dainty noblewoman fainting every time someone shows an ankle.” she said, dismissing his concerns for Kjelle pretty handily. “I’m more worried about you. Its been a year and I haven’t heard about you getting with anyone, not since-” and Robin’s eyes practically flashed as he looked into hers. She stopped mid-sentence and collected herself, thinking better of mentioning the elephant in the room of Robin’s love life.

Most of the Shepherds did their level best not to discuss Tiki with Robin. The Voice of Naga was beloved universally amongst them all and she had fought with them to save the world...But they had all agreed Robin was entitled to his privacy regarding her. They hadn’t seen her since Robin returned and she hadn’t shown herself since his death, it was a sore spot Robin had dealt with and concealed.

“...Sorry. My point is, the last girl I’d expect to hear you bedding was Tharja.” she continued. “You alright and everything? No love potions or hexes I gotta worry about?”

Sully was a little surprised at the flash of offense on Robin’s face but he caught himself and shook his head a bit quickly. “Not a chance! Sully...I know you never really got to know her but Tharja is a good woman. If she was going to trick or trap me into something, she’d have done it years ago. This is what both of us wanted.” he explained and now it was his turn to cross his arms over his chest, staring her down. She actually felt a little shorter with that gaze he was casting. “I’ve...It’s been a long year Sully. Tharja sort’ve reminded me I’m allowed to be human sometimes and things just happened.”

There was a tone to Robin’s voice that Sully liked and she stepped forward almost unconsciously. “Sorry. That was a little harsh of me. I know Tharja’s not a bad person, just didn’t know how to take all Kjelle’s talk.” she explained, though she did grin a bit. “She definitely made it sound pretty unreal, at least.”

Sully could get used to seeing Robin flush before straightening like that, his eyes lightening. “I guess we might have, uh, gotten a little involved in ourselves…” he explained, but Sully just kept grinning.

“Hah! I’m not judging Robin. I’m happy you’re happy. I wish I could find someone who did that for me, I’ve been like an old maid since Lon’qu left.” she said, caught up momentarily in her own thoughts and speaking without realizing it, though she didn’t stop herself. Robin had always been easy to talk to, and hardly judgemental himself.

Though she was a little curious at the look on Robin’s face, especially when he turned his head and his hand went back to his neck with an oddly uncertain look...Then he met her eyes once more. “A gorgeous woman like you won’t have to look too far, Sully. I’m sure there’s a few people closer than you’d think that might be interested in giving you a good time.”

Wait, was he…? She must have looked damned confused, because he had a bit of a grin for disrupting her like that. “Wait, are you...What about Tharja, aren’t you two…?” she asked, before she thought better of it.

A soft shrug. “I’m not sure what we are, but she seems to want to keep things open.” he explained as if it was just the simplest thing in the world and Sully responded by looking to the ground and turning it over in her head. “Well now, that’s...Wait, what the hell? Kjelle was losing it over no- Fuck.” Sully started, looking up to Robin with a start and realizing that had a lot of implications. Yet Robin was looking at her curiously and she didn’t exactly have a smart thing to say right now. “You know that’s...I mean, Tharja and...You’re a damned catch and I know it…” she started, trailing off somewhat as Robin barely concealed an amused smirk at her little spiral…

Shit. She couldn’t deal with this right now. Couldn’t deal with him. It wasn’t like he was telling her he’d do anything, or asking her, or even saying a goddamn solid thing but he was basically saying it right? That Tharja wouldn’t care if he and Sully got it on? And wait, wasn’t he saying he wanted to bed her? That was kind of news to her too…

“Hey, take it easy Sully. I’m not saying you have to hop into my arms right now, though I’m sure someone would get a kick out of watching you knock me into the river.” Robin said, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder. That uneasy look from before was pretty damn gone, replaced by that confident look that she knew well and she snorted at his little joke. “You’re gorgeous, and I’m not going to pretend I haven’t admired the view of you sparring or working out a few times.” he continued, “I guess what I’m saying is...I know a little something about being bottled up and you deserve someone. Even if you think I’m out of my mind.”

Robin had always been an honest, forthcoming type. It was what had initially impressed Sully about him. He’d never treated her as anything less than an equal and had always spoken his mind to her, even when other men would have balked at her temper or spoken down to her as a woman, he never had. So to hear him say he thought of her like that? Little fucking confusing, and a little tempting too. “I...It’s definitely not the right time to, uh, talk about something like this. I’m not saying no, I just...I gotta get to the palace. Maybe I’ll, uh...Maybe we can talk about it tomorrow. After my rounds.” she said, a little quickly for her liking but with as much nerve as she could muster.

Instead of pressing her, Robin smiled and nodded back. “Sounds like a date then.” and she nearly shot him a glare for that, but then caught herself. Yeah it kinda was a date in this context, huh? “Let’s get to it then. It sounds like we both have a long day ahead of us.”

To that Sully nodded and Robin gave her a smile before turning off to step down the path towards the Palace. Leaving Sully by herself, with her thoughts and her own internal dialogue...For an entire day of internal battling. There was no way she could say yes, not if Kjelle...But there really wasn’t anyone else Sully had even considered, and she was curious as hell if Kjelle was telling the truth about…

Sully’s hand ran up into her hair. Fuck. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Robin’s day would be no less long, though not for the same reasons. Oh, sure, his mind was racing at just how recklessly bold he’d been with Sully. She could have easily sent him flying into the river and called him a pig, or worse, but he’d seen the look in her eyes. Loneliness, curiosity and attraction as she listened and spoke with him. He wasn’t even sure what he was offering her, or what this would mean for him and Tharja, or if he needed to clear this with her, or...what the hell he was doing. It was like everything he’d denied himself had come back with a vengeance.

No, Robin’s day wasn’t long because of his internal conversations, those actually played out without much input on his part and he found he could easily focus on the work. Instead Robin had walked into his office to find it untouched and curiously he had looked for Chrom, only for one of Chrom’s aides to tell him that the Exalt had been called to a meeting unexpectedly and had not been in the Palace all morning.

Which meant Robin was tackling an entire day of backlog and today’s paperwork by himself.

So he had come into his office and settled in for the long haul, but nothing was ever that simple. Fate seemed determined to test his patient open door policy today; Not an hour went by without an interruption.

First it had been Frederick striding inside, quietly offering him the notes from the day before and the meeting he’d missed. That wasn’t so bad. Then came the deluge of advisors and messengers after him.

Time after time his door was nudged, knocked or flung open. 

"Grandmaster, I have important documents from Plegia which need your signature." And the aide proceeded to set down a thick parcel of paper that Robin stared at as the aide left. He'd barely gotten started before the door rattled open again. "Sir, these request forms from the Cavalry Brigade need to be handled right away."

"Excuse me, Grandmaster, but a representative from the Shipwright's Guild has left an agreement for the cost of the new additions to the Navy."

"Grandmaster, Lady Cordelia bid me send you these plans for the expansion of the First and Third Platoon stables."

"Sir, these papers from the road auditing crew have just arrived with the estimates you and the Exalt sent for. "

This was Robin's daily life for the past year. Coordinating all this information into the overall growth and status of the Halidom was something Robin excelled at. Even now with his mind soundly elsewhere he directed papers and men to the appropriate stacks in his office and got to work. Normally this process of deliveries and reports took a small portion of his day.

Today, however, Robin was still greeting visitors after four hours of sitting at his desk. The paperwork would have seemed daunting any other day but Robin was finding it surprisingly...concise. Not that magically the dearth of forms now neatly piled on his desk were not intimidating but today he seemed quite sharp at pulling the right paper out of the right pile, his memory for who had asked for what snapping right along. It did not stop the influx of new work but it did allow him to quietly clear out the important or time sensitive issues before they were lost to the shuffle. 

Then Robin's door swung open and he looked up just in time to see a sack of flower petals fly in the room, pellets of some sort rolling in after it. The effect was immediate, the pellets burst upwards into multicolor smoke and the sack of flower petals split open into a somewhat scattered pattern that covered the office, including a few now stuck in Robin's hair. He stared at his door with his lips twitching in amusement even as he waved the smoke away from his face and watched the doorway as it cleared. 

Cynthia was Chrom's younger daughter even by the standards of age he'd grown accustomed to working with. Time travel or not, Lucina was the eldest daughter. Yet where Lucina had inherited the good and bad traits of her father, Cynthia took exceedingly after her mother. A little shorter than Robin, she had pale skin with rosy cheeks and wide brown eyes. Her hair was Chrom's dark blue and done up in a rather simple twin tails on either side of her head but with bangs free. She also took after her mother's physical features; Her long, slender arms and petite thighs, her heart shaped face and most of her height being her legs. 

He also knew, in a slightly less distant way than he'd thought about it before, that Cynthia's rider breastplate and uniform barely hid a sizable chest and very shapely ass.

Cynthia had burst into the doorway just as the smoke had cleared and petals were still wafting down across the room. Her right hand was outstretched in front of her and she was indeed clothed in her full dark blue Pegasus Rider uniform, her lips split into a beaming smile and one leg was bent up in front of her waist, the other firmly on the ground and her spear curled up behind her back. It was a very dynamic pose, especially when she stomped her bent leg down and twirled the spear out to dramatically rest the spear’s back end on the ground in front of herself.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Robin started grinning at her exuberance but the woman frowned a bit in return and tilted her head with a very ‘come on!’ expression. Snapping up in his chair, Robin put his hands together into a soft clap and smiled apologetically. “Very impressive, Heroic Knight Cynthia. How long have you been working on that one?” he asked.

“Of course it was impressive! It took me three days and beg- asking Miriel nicely to help me with the smoke!” Cynthia explained, right back to beaming like a sunbeam as she pushed her spear off to the side to rest on the wall, moving instead to step in front of Robin’s desk and put her hands down on it. Now she was staring at him and leaning over him, very seriously inspecting his face from multiple angles and directions. Then she reached out and grabbed him by the forehead, using her other hand to pull an eyelid back so she could stare directly into his eye, then all at once she released him and stepped back. “Hah! I knew it! Dad and Lucy thought you were sick, but I knew better! That’s just how you look all the time!”

His face fell as she barely stifled a rather happy giggle at his reaction, her inspection apparently having been mostly for show as Robin lifted his hand and rubbed his eye a bit. “I’m sorry for worrying your father and sister, did they ask you to check on me or something?” he asked, wondering a bit behind everything else why Lucina would be worried about him. Had he even seen her the day before, or had Chrom shared his worries with his daughter?

Cynthia of course refused to let him linger in himself too long. “Heck no! A true hero doesn’t need a reason to visit a trusted ally!” she started, but then her smile faltered a little and she tucked both her arms behind her back almost shyly, rocking on the ball of her heels a little. “But maybe Dad did mention you weren’t feeling great and you might really enjoy seeing my new entrance, and maybe I pretended I was a liiiittle worried.” she added with a flourished pout to her lips that made Robin almost feel bad for worrying her, all things considered.

“Well, if I was feeling down at all, that certainly perked me right up. Did you want to stay and have some tea with me? I’ve been sitting half the day.” he asked as he began to stand and sure enough Cynthia was all smiles again as she nodded, and Robin stepped around the desk to offer his arm to her, which she took by her own and crossed at the elbow to lock them together. Together they left the room with Cynthia only temporarily stopping to scramble back into his office and retrieve her spear before she was back with him walking arm in arm.

Truthfully Robin was fond of Cynthia, her energy and her constant effort to improve herself made her rather charming and her fixation on heroics meant that he could always count on her to be entertaining, but he also suspected that there was more to it than that. She was the daughter of the Exalt and a great Pegasus Knight as well as sister to Lucina, which might be enough to give anyone a bit of a complex about being equally heroic. At least that was how Robin had always thought of it and it was why he always took the time to make sure he enjoyed Cynthia’s company.

The palace kitchens were rather spartan, at least in appearance, but the staff did quite a lot with a little and before Robin or Cynthia could even speak someone was bringing them a kettle and two cups of tea to be set on one of the side tables where Robin led Cynthia. They took a seat and Robin did his level best to pay attention to Cynthia but there were times he had to admit he found himself drifting.

Not because she was a boring conversationalist, she was always engaging, but his conversation earlier with Sully and the night before with Tharja were being worked over in his mind as he listened to Cynthia. Tharja telling him not only did she approve of him being with other women but that she expected it? Sully admitting what he’d known since Lon’qu left, that she felt lonely and how he took advantage of it? Yet he knew better than to needle himself like that, he’d only told Sully the truth and offered an idea. He hadn’t tried to play her loneliness against her or do anything untoward, and Tharja...Maybe she had a point.

When they were together he felt amazing, but even with the entirety of last night and this morning he still couldn’t say the desires that had come flooding out when he’d woken last night were quenched or even sated. Was this part of what he had repressed since his rebirth? It wasn’t like he hadn’t had impulses before, but...it was true he hadn’t seriously looked at a woman for a long time.

Even now, as Cynthia dramatically swung herself up in her chair describing her last spar with Lucina, Robin found himself noticing how her armor shifted to expose more of the side of her chest and arms, and how as she stood to imitate a flourishing strike her uniform skirt swung up and revealed the stockings under her long boots, clipped to a garter he could not see, and he had to quickly turn his eyes away to keep from staring at her pale skin. He definitely hadn’t ogled Chrom’s daughter before all this, that was for sure.

Cynthia was a little silent as he looked back up at her and he realized she was waiting for him to respond to her story and he quickly snapped to a smile, making a suitably impressed whistle. “I bet with a strike like that he was impressed!” he said, only for Cynthia to pout and settle herself back down into her chair.

“He would have been, but Dad had to go and ruin it by parrying it and then, get this, he had the nerve to tell me that twirling my spear before I strike WASN’T making my strikes more difficult to dodge, and then we got into a little argument and I called him a knave!” Cynthia explained in a rush, causing Robin to stifle a laugh at the idea of Chorm’s confused face during that exchange.

Robin took a sip of his tea and went to speak, only for a messenger to step up to the table and bow his head apologetically before looking to Robin. “Grandmaster, you have a visitor. They insisted they meet you near the practice field.” they explained, before stepping away as Robin exhaled softly and looked to Cynthia.

“Sorry Cynthia. Sounds like I have to get back to work.” he said, smiling softly at her and Cynthia simply beamed and stood up, throwing her arms wide in a stretch.

“Don’t sweat it Robin! A hero’s work is never done, after all!” she declared as Robin stood alongside her, but he didn’t have a chance to respond before she swung herself into him with a rather massive hug, practically hanging off his shoulders. Despite her being armored and surprising him he didn’t even stagger under her weight, instead pulling one arm around her waist and hugging her in return. He could have sworn for a moment she buried her face in his neck but before he could really register the sensation she was pulling off him and grabbing up her spear, bounding backwards out of the kitchen with a series of goofy waves.

Robin waited until she was well and truly out of earshot before he began laughing to himself, covering his face a moment. He realized with a start that the messenger was still standing nearby and the young man was smiling to himself at what he’d witnessed. A moment of silence passed. “...Not a word about that to anyone else, please.” Robin quietly asked, only for the messenger to bow his head and step away.

For the second time today, Robin was surprised to see Sully standing waiting for him. Unlike on the porch before Sully didn’t look cross with him as she leaned on a tree near the edge of the practice area. Chrom had insisted on expanding the practice grounds for the Palace after the Wars and now instead of a simple field it was multiple fenced off areas with their own sheds that held practice weapons and armor as well as a small tent for whatever medical staff was on duty. Even as Robin made his way towards the treeline he was acutely aware of several soldiers and knights moving about the area.

Stopping a moment at the edge of a fence, Robin realized he recognized one of the people along the fields and watched as Cordelia stepped in between two sparring Pegasus Riders, forcing them back and quietly instructing them, using her own spear to point out the flaws in their grip before she stepped away and let them resume. As she took her position on watch for the field Cordelia seemed to notice him and she raised her hand in a wave which Robin returned almost awkwardly, especially as several others looked over at him when she waved.

Resisting the urge to go and speak to her Robin turned back to the treeline only to notice Sully had ducked into it. The wooded areas within the Palace were not expansive by any means, but deep enough that if one wanted a private conversation it was better than most of the corridors in the Palace itself. Robin found his neck prickling a little bit with a sort of offhand worry...Sully was either about to tell him off or give him an overdue slug to the face for how bold he’d been earlier today.

Pushing past a few of the branches in his way, Robin found himself coming into a small thicket with a patch of clear ground near the center and Sully was waiting for him. Her expression was a bit odd, especially for Sully. She looked calm enough, but there was an uncertainty to her Robin hadn’t seen before. Two of her fingers were rubbing circles in the hem of her pants and she didn’t meet his eyes at first.

When she did, Robin was nearly on her and he stopped short of her, reaching out to touch her shoulder as he had earlier and found her tense before she looked up at him. She stared for all of three seconds before she stepped forward and it all melted away into this intense gaze before her hands came up to his coat, grabbing it by the collar. Then she yanked him forward and positively crushed his lips with her own.

In his surprise Robin didn’t respond at first and he had time to admire just how different Sully’s kiss was from Tharja. Where as Tharja’s kisses were hungry and quick, Sully was more deliberate and passionate. It was a slower kind of kiss but no less intense and before he knew it he was melting into her. His hand came up around her back and he put the other at her hip, his eyes closing as she led the kiss. It was intense and he swore it would never end but finally it broke, more from her finally running out of breath than her intentionally ending it.

She was already staring into his eyes and watching him, still holding him by his jacket, but she didn’t make any other moves. Not yet, anyway. She broke the silence a few seconds later. “I’m not patient enough to wait until tonight.”

That was all she said before she threw herself back into their kiss.

* * *

Sully had really tried, she had truly and definitely tried. She had left that confusing experience at the bridge and thrown herself into her rounds; A patrol around the city with Stahl had helped only somewhat and during her drills afterwards she knew she was distracted by how many times her weapon slipped in her hands, or the time she’d watched in a daze as one of the other knights had fallen from his horse due to a broken stirrup and it had taken her a few moments to even react.

She wasn’t supposed to be this distracted. It was supposed to be an easy decision; No. Kjelle was interested in him, he had another woman he admitted was fawning all over him and he was a cheeky son of a bitch for suggesting it all in the first place. Robin was a good man, maybe even one of the best she knew, but that didn’t mean she was going to jump in bed with him at the first opportunity.

It was just...It was so hard to tell herself all that.

It had been almost two full years since Lon’qu had left. Kjelle and little Kjelle had taken up so much of her time after and she’d convinced herself she didn’t want or need a man, but she’d told Robin the truth. She was lonely. Most men didn’t approach her because of her demeanor and those that did pretty swiftly showed themselves to be pigs or idiots, and that was just how it had been. So when Robin came along, the same Robin that had proven time and time again he understood her and respected her, the same Robin that had never shied away from a spar with her no matter how soundly she’d knocked him down the first few times, the same Robin that had finally gotten good enough to give her a challenge…

Well, when that same Robin told her she was allowed to want someone and admitted he wanted her? Fuck if that wasn’t enough to get her blood flowing again.

So she’d left her drills early. Told Frederick she was taking a bit of personal time, something that shocked their normally unflappable commander and stunned him into letting her go without protest, and she’d intended to head home. Maybe speak with Kjelle and get her blessing or something...But instead, her feet had carried her here without even realizing it. 

There were a lot of reasons Sully shouldn’t have been there right now, but Sully was sick of repeating them in her head and trying to convince herself why she shouldn’t do something she ultimately wanted to do. Robin was handsome, Robin was honest and she trusted Robin to not fuck this up, which was more than she could say for pretty much any other man she knew. More importantly, Robin was there and had always been there for her. Sure, he’d been there for all the Shepherds, but she wasn't thinking of it in those terms.

So she’d come to this side of the Palace. Away from Frederick and prying eyes that would try to interrupt her. So she’d had one of the messengers ask Robin to join her someplace she knew she could get privacy and when he’d gotten here she had considered what she was doing just far enough to toss the jumbled mess aside and she kissed him.

It really had been too fucking long, because Robin wasn’t even kissing her back for the first few seconds and she was already red in the face. When he had started kissing her back somehow she wasn’t surprised to figure out he was damn good at kissing, finding just the right way to hold her and press into her and his lips slipped on hers to run the curves and swells together. It was like a massage with the mouth and she inadvertently relaxed into it with a soft sound.

When they broke apart and she spoke, it had been the truth. She’d never in her life waited to go after something she wanted and to finally admit to herself Robin was something she wanted hadn’t exactly been easy but now that she was here? It definitely seemed like a good idea. She’d deal with the consequences later, whatever they were, but for here and now she wanted those lips on hers again.

Their next kiss was immediately better, Robin’s lips moving immediately to find those places on hers that made her lips twitch and her back arch. It was like he’d been exploring her the first time and now he knew what spots to focus on or what movements excited her the most and he was finding new ways to use them. He pulled her bottom lip between his and she made a sound as something in her core throbbed at the sensation and she’d bent into him only to find his hands on her again. This time his hand came around her waist and onto her ass, grabbing it up in a gesture she could only admire. Man was bold when he wanted to be, for a book type.

Sully was not to be outdone however and instead of letting Robin be the only one touching, Sully’s hands dropped to his shirt and began to slide down from his chest to his waist in a very curious fashion. Exploring his body for the first time as they kissed, she was pleasantly surprised to feel how firm he was under those baggy clothes. It shouldn’t have, she’d seen how hard he trained and how he held his own against some of the best of the Shepherds, but she couldn’t help but have the image of him buried in books and scrolls to compare against.

Without warning that grip on her ass turned into a hefty squeeze and him turning her, using his leg to guide hers into a circle and she felt her back hit the tree near them. Her eyes snapped open and she broke the kiss to make a surprised half-questioning sound, only for Robin to push into her once more. His hand braced her on the tree and his knee lifted between her now parted legs all at once and there was a look in his eyes, a smirk as he stole control of this from her. She didn’t even have time to think about if this was what she wanted here and now or what her original plan had been, she reacted competitively.

Her hand pushed down into the waist of his pants and she returned his smirk as she grasped him through his underclothes, noting the half-hard length in her hand was more than she’d expected him to be packing. He was full of surprises it seemed. Her fingers closed around the shaft through the cloth between them and he flushed even as his knee dug into her through her own trousers. She didn’t let herself stay idle above either, her head moving to his where she used her cheek to push his head to the side and her lips came down on his neck in a harsh kiss that she knew would leave marks, but fuck if she cared right now.

Sully was sweltering hot under all these clothes, her cheeks flushed and her pussy already damp against him even from just these touches they’d shared so far. Two years of pent up passion and need were overriding any concerns she had about him explaining away some hickies, especially with his cock hardening in her hand and she made a sound as she stroked it. He was on the defensive now, his neck and length being assaulted and she was definitely coming out ahead, even if she was starting to wish her pants would just disappear already.

Robin wasn’t content to be on the back foot long however and his knee moved as he stepped back, arms sliding out of that heavy coat and it fell around him even as she continued to assault his neck and stroke him. Then he was back into it and she was momentarily taken aback as he grabbed the hem of her pants, his thumbs hooking under the clasp and pulling it open. That they were still in, essentially, public was not lost on her but soon it was replaced by a heady need as his hands skipped past pawing at her through her clothes and instead he yanked her pants down and then he caught her panties by the side and they too went down.

She barely even resisted the undressing and her hand continued to explore his now throbbing shaft, feeling it’s heat as she began to pull at his pants as well. His belt interrupted her efforts and the feel of the cool air on her sex, which she now realized was soaked, hindered her further and she felt frustration at how he was stealing the advantage from her...A feeling which was only magnified as her clothing hit the ground and Robin made a very concerning sound into the air, almost like a chuckling growl.

Then he had her hips in his hands and he hefted her up. Sully was no petite flower and Robin looked as if he weighed less than half her stones, but without even batting an eyelash the man picked her up like a doll and her back slid up the tree until she was not only off the ground but above his head. Her heart was hammering in her chest, but there wasn’t an ounce of fear. Just that act alone had her pussy gushing even worse and she couldn’t explain why, even as she desperately tried to think of a way to get back in control.

Then Robin’s head pushed between her legs and her brain exploded. His lips caught her clit and wrapped around it immediately which sent her head reeling back and her arching, her hands moving to his hair where she dug her fingertips into his scalp. Any thoughts of competing or who was in control flew from her as he shifted his grip, hands moving to her thighs and his thumbs coming against her folds where he pulled at them to hold her open for his tongue which now pushed into her. He was deliberately at the angle that let his tongue grind and lash past her clit as it curved into her walls and the sensation was overwhelming. They’d been silent up until now except for some light panting but Sully couldn’t contain herself anymore.

“Shit, yes! God get that tongue inside me you- Hhhhn!”

Robin’s response to her was to twist his head and push it against her at an angle that let his tongue dive into her and she swung her legs closed against his head, trapping it between her thighs as he drove her wild. It slid up along one side of her tunnel, parting her and squirming against her folds, then would twist to curl down the opposite side in a pattern that never let any single part of her feel focused on or ignored...And it was wonderful, even as she realized he was exploring her and gauging her reactions.

When she twitched or gasped at a particular spot his tongue would double back over it and he never missed a chance for his lips to brush or stroke her clit as he worked into her. She must have been a mess, she could feel streams of her lust running down her ass and probably dripping a puddle at his feet but she didn’t give even a remote fuck about that. Sully had lost this round and she knew it, especially as her stomach began tightening and she ground herself backwards into the tree. It barely registered that the bark was digging into her and she wouldn’t have cared either way.

All at once she hit her peak and her eyes snapped closed as she reflexively squeezed Robin’s head with both her hands and legs but the man didn’t stop as he realized what was happening. Instead his tongue slipped out of her and his lips wrapped around her clit again, rolling it between those infuriatingly soft lips and his tongue ground it’s tip into her at the same time. The sensation of being engulfed like that was entirely new to her and what had started as her voice groaning out in pleasure rapidly swelled into a second orgasm stacked atop her first and her voice raising higher and higher until she was practically scream-singing his name.

“ROBIIIIIIIIIIIN!!”

The assault on her clit didn’t stop even as her legs began shaking and she had to suck in a breath with her lungs burning, her eyes screwing open and her hands trying to push his head away, but he didn’t budge. Then his teeth replaced his tongue and the sensation of scrapes alongside a soft suckling sensation drove her headfirst into a third climax, one that she dully registered had her flooding herself and everything was foggy. She couldn’t hear herself making any noise anymore, not with the drum beat of her heart in her ears drowning out everything but the sound of sparks going off in her head. Her senses dulled for a moment and she found it hard to remember to breathe as everything washed over her.

Then it was done. His lips left her and she closed her mouth for the first time in what felt like ages, breathing in heavily through her nose and releasing Robin all at once. His grip on her moved and she was sliding down the tree, her hips still flexing and her toes curled inside her boots. She was dimly aware of her pants gathered around her ankles and her twisted panties, her chest heaving and her fingers twitching against his head as he let her feet touch the ground. Thankfully he didn’t let her go because she wasn’t entirely sure she had her footing under her.

Instead, he held her by her ass into his chest and he was panting from the lack of air he’d had while she clung to him, yet he didn’t complain or even grin smugly at her...No, this was a very pleased but passionate smile as he licked his lips and she oddly found herself shuddering at that somehow intensely hot image of him cleaning her release from himself. There were no words for a few moments, only the sound of them breathing together.

Then she remembered where she was, and who she was, and what was happening.

Sully forced herself to stop panting, breathing slowly as she looked into Robin’s lustfully sparkling eyes and her foot lifted, catching one boot and kicking it off, then the other, her pants and panties crumpled onto the ground as she locked her gaze with his.

“If you don’t get me back against this tree and fuck me, now, I’m going to kick your ass.” she mumbled as she leaned herself into Robin and pushes her lips against his neck. Something in her was pushing, raw almost, against the edges of her restraint and instead of wrestling for control she was desperately kissing at his neck, his jaw, his cheeks, her hands roaming his body with her hands clenching. She wasn’t content to just wait for him to react, she was loosening his clothing and pulling at his belt until she felt his cock push free of his clothes and land against her thigh. She was already moving her hand down to grasp it as Robin wrapped his hands over her hips again and she hiked up her leg just enough to pull that hot length inside her.

Sweat began to bead at her forehead as Robin stole control in that moment, his hand moving up to pin hers to the tree above and he thrust inside her as he did. Both of them shared a deep, breathless moan and Sully’s face disappeared into his shoulder, her forehead resting on him as she let loose a rather happy laugh. It felt good. She hadn’t been touched except by herself in so long that while his tongue and fingers had felt good, this? This made her knees weak.

Robin’s cock was thick and angled in just the right way to stretch as it drug over her walls and even if she hadn’t been tight he’d have made her feel tight, but it was how hard he thrust inside that got her. He pushed with his heels, rolled his hips and drove into her in a pounding motion that sent her ass into the tree behind her and she could hear leaves rustling up above them. It drove her wild. She didn’t have to fucking hold back.

Her arms lashed up and wrapped around Robin’s back, her nails driving into his shoulders as she clenched him close and her leg moved to hike up over his thigh. He was as close to her as he could be and the lack of distance meant instead of some long drawn out thrusts Robin was now crushing her breasts into her chest and hammering her pussy. She couldn’t stop grinning and moaning in between her laughs and gasps of happiness, thrill running through her spine at just how visceral it was. Robin had let her hand go when she flung it around him and was now holding her hips again which kept her in place for him to just let loose on her.

She could feel the impact hitting her sex and sending shocks of pleasure and pain through her lower body and when the angle was just right he slammed into her clit and her world went white in the best way. She knew she’d ache in the morning, maybe finally have one of those bow legged limps some of the other girls muttered about after rough nights and she didn’t even begin to care. She’d gladly crawl everywhere for a few days after this if it meant she could just keep feeling this.

Her first orgasm took her by surprise, it happened in the middle of Robin giving a particularly rough thrust that scraped her on the tree and she came with a startled howl. It was so damned intense! Pleasure and sensation were washing over her and she couldn't contain herself, her grip on Robin now quite crushing and she was dimly aware she should be hurting him but fuck it, if he could take it she wasn't going to even try to reign herself in. 

Her nails drug down his back as another orgasm slammed into the first along with Robin yanking her down onto him to make already hard and rough sex take a new dimension. She could feel every muscle tensing and relaxing all at once and she found herself still smiling through it all. 

It was by chance she happened to turn her head as Robin fucked her, clenching her fingers into Robin and she opened her eyes turn, take in the tactician's face or try and regain some ground by attacking his neck...and then her eyes met a pair of red ones and Sully snapped to focus. 

Cordelia was halfway through the treeline, her eyes wide and her face red as her hair. The Pegasus Commander looked halfway through her step and frozen from shock, even as Robin continued to pound Sully mere yards away. 

Sully just turned her head as a particularly harsh thrust sent her arching back and calling out Robin's name again. Maybe it was how good this was, or the way Robin was so lost in it he didn't seem to notice Cordelia or maybe it was just the idea of the Commander of the Pegasus Knights stumbling on them mid fuck but Sully just didn't care. She'd never been shamed out of what she wanted and she wasn't going to start now. 

Instead she pushed her head into Robin's neck and let out a ragged moan, trying to find the words to tell him to let go. To stop holding on and give in. She could feel him practically pulsing inside her and his dick was so damn hot inside her she could feel it against her. Yet every time she tried to provoke him to cum, Robin would hit one of the spots inside her that made spots blanket her vision or his grip on her would change and a new angle would keep her nerves alight or something and her thoughts would disappear in a haze. She had lost count of how many times she'd climaxed already though the way she felt she knew it a lot. 

Robin was a damned good fuck and this would definitely not be the last time she saw him.

Instead of trying to tell him to finish, Sully threw herself back into the tree and braced herself on her shoulders before she dropped her hips, one hand flying to the tree to hold herself as she half-rode Robin. It made an already intense romp even worse and it made the clearing sound even more lurid, flesh clapping and their groans ringing off each other. 

Robin grunted without warning, a strangled sound escaping his chest and he rammed the rest of himself to the hilt before he came and Sully dug her nails into both his back and the tree at once. Her eyes slammed shut as heat poured into her and she could feel it churning against the tight seal of their hips. There was no question about how messy this was going to be. 

Yet Sully couldn't help but grin as she leaned back on the tree, arms dangling at her side and letting Robin hold her up. For now anyway. Once she stopped panting she was going to climb down and salvage her clothing, but for the moment she was going to admire Robin with his cock still hard inside her, his pants half open and his shirt untucked to expose his hard abs...Yeah. This was a view she was going to get used to. 

She was dimly aware she couldn't see Cordelia anymore from her peripheral vision and she made a mental note to maybe tell Robin they'd been seen. Maybe not. She closed her eyes and just took in a shuddering breath as Robin came in close and surprised her by taking her lips for a kiss that she returned almost immediately. Her hands came up to his shirt and she twisted it as they kissed until it was bunched at chest level and she could feel his abs rubbing into her stomach. 

The kiss broke and she laughed aloud while falling back against the tree, her eyes on Robin's sweat soaked face and matted hair. "Yeah. That was worth it." She said, grinning at him. 

"Eh? Worth what?" Robin asked in slight confusion. 

"Having to get new pants before I go home." She teased and he glanced down, then smirked at her in a damned handsome way that made her want to kiss it off his face. 

"Boots too, Sully. "

Ah shit. She liked those boots…"Still worth it."


	6. Truth and Imaginations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fresh from his encounter with Sully, Robin and Chrom share the details of the new changes Robin's life had taken and Robin unknowningly attracts the attention of another Shepherd. Before he can deal with everything else, however, he must adjust to the changes in his home life...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back from vacation! Went to Oregon, Crater Lake is gorgeous and if you ever have a chance definitely take a visit. This is a bit of an extra long chapter, lots of plot setup and necessary interaction with a nice splash of what I hope is a fun sex scene at the end,
> 
> As always, throw me a comment or message me on Discord if you have critique or corrections!

Somehow this day had taken an extraordinarily odd turn for Robin.

It wasn’t when he had come to speak to Sully at her request and she had kissed him, nor when he’d returned that kiss half out of genuine interest and half out of sheer dumbfounded reflex. Not even when Sully and he had found themselves practically rutting against a tree not two hundred yards from a training field, Sully’s voice most definitely carrying and giving more than a few trainees gossip and giggles.

Even the moment they had separated and Sully had grinned at him cheekily before telling him he owed her new clothes before she grabbed up his coat and sauntered off towards one of the outer walls, leaving Robin to hastily fumble his clothes back together and smooth his hair down. He had made his way out of the little forest they’d met within and he’d carefully navigated his way across the grassy field and away from the training area where he noted several glances were already cast his way. Strangely, Cordelia was nowhere to be seen on his return.

His walk back had been uneventful afterwards, his head filled with a myriad of deeply personal questions that he struggled to answer; Why had Sully kissed him? Hell, why had he kissed Sully? His unnatural boldness in propositioning her startled even himself, but the rest of it...Rationalizing such an act wasn’t exactly difficult, even if it was a little uncomfortable for Robin to admit to himself; She’d opened a door talking about her own needs and Robin, still lost in what Tharja had practically buried in his brain, had stepped through it. The rest of it he knew had simply been need and instinct, Sully’s forceful demeanor igniting something within him and he’d acted on it.

Had it been a mistake? Would something come of this that he wasn’t anticipating? Probably. Absolutely, actually, given what Sully and he had spoken of regarding Kjelle...Yet for once in his life, Robin didn’t feel some creeping worry work up his spine at the prospect of dealing with those consequences. He wasn’t trying to plan six moves ahead of his own problems, for once, he simply smiled as he stepped into his office once more and pushed the door closed behind him. He would deal with it when it became an issue and not spend the rest of his workday worrying about it.

Of course, he did stop a bit short when he saw Chrom sitting on his desk, arms crossed, one eyebrow lifted up into his blue hair. “Well, look who’s finally showing up to work!” Chrom remarked with a rather bright grin, his eyes scanning Robin as if sizing him up and Robin found himself rolling his eyes in mock exasperation.

“Unlike a certain man who shall not be named I have been quite hard at work most of my day...I merely took a walk.” Robin retorted, but he did step towards Chrom all the same. “We can’t all be mysteriously busy in meetings all day, oh Exalted One.” he said, something catching his attention. He reached out and grabbed Chrom’s shirt, tucking back part of the collar where a series of fresh red marks were decorated almost out of view.

Chrom didn’t even bother looking embarrassed, merely beaming at Robin and lifting his shoulders in a shrug. “What can I say? I’m a very busy man, and you know how those meetings can get out of hand sometimes…"

It was Robin’s turn to bear a sly grin. “I bet. Basilio, I trust?” and he watched Chrom throw his head back and forth in response, actively making a face at the notion, before something seemed to catch his eye. Chrom reached forward and Robin looked down just in time to catch what Chrom was looking at; A series of bite marks across his shoulder and neck. His coat had hidden it up until now but his shirt was loose enough and open near the neck to expose it, and Chrom had seen it.

This time it was Chrom’s turn to push Robin’s shirt a bit and stare for a moment, before turning his eyes up to Robin and there was a sort of wicked glee in how Chrom spoke next. “So, a walk, huh?”

Robin smiled a little and cleared his throat, feeling his cheeks heat as he contemplated what to say next. This was a very odd day.

* * *

Chrom was not a man who pried into the affairs of his friends unless he felt it was necessary, something that needed to happen to protect or better understand them. He understood the need for a separation of private and public lives, especially when he was essentially the Ruler of so many he was close to. So when Robin had begun showing signs of fatigue, when he had begun having difficulty focus and drifting off, Chrom had said nothing except to make time to look in on his friend.

That was, at the end of the day, what Robin was. A friend who had saved Chrom’s life more times than he could count and who had given the ultimate sacrifice to protect the world from something that until that moment had seemed as if it would never truly be gone. Grima had seemed like a force of nature, a dark stain on history, and then Robin had stepped forward and struck it down. Chrom hated himself for not having the power to do it himself at the time, hated that he was forced to watch a man he had begun to consider a brother die and when Robin had come back Chrom had been overjoyed.

Yet Robin hadn’t come back quite whole, not truly. The man was still there but there were new edges to his personality, there was a distance between even them and Robin had practically disappeared into his work. Asking Lucina to send Tharja to visit him after the incident during the meeting had been the only time Chrom had actively interfered in his friend’s life in their entire friendship and the sheer change in Robin made Chrom glad he had.

It wasn’t the way he was smiling again, or the fact he was laughing and joking as easily as ever. It was all in the eyes; There was a spark in them again, the same spark that had made Chrom believe even in the darkest times that Robin would see them through.

So the fact that his best friend now had marks decorating his neck and he was flush as a tomato at the mention of them? To hell with letting his friend have secrets, this was too good to pass up. It didn’t take a genius to figure some things out either; “I’m guessing Tharja came to visit you?” he asked, watching Robin turn his head to the side and step around him.

“Ah...Yes. I, eh…” Robin started, Chrom turning to follow him as he went around his desk and moved his hands into some papers, evidently looking for something to occupy his hands with. “She...spent the night, as it happens. I think she’s still there.” he added, and Chrom was immediately smiling again.

It had been obvious to anyone with half a brain Tharja was still madly in love with Robin, even if the man himself couldn’t see it, and while Chrom had some reservations in how that had manifested years ago the woman had matured and grown greatly, perhaps especially after Robin’s death. She had been his last resort to help and it had worked, but Chrom was starting to notice Robin still hadn’t met his eyes, and- “Wait...If she’s still there, then…?” he asked, motioning to the marks on Robin’s neck.

Robin looked up now with that sheepish smile, but there was something under it that Chrom hadn’t seen in a long time. Pride? Then Robin said the words that had Chrom practically stumbling back into a chair. “...Sully?”

There were several long seconds of silence and Chrom stared at Robin. Quiet, polite Robin who had spent most of his life living like a monk and acting as everyone’s moral compass. Chrom stood up and just held up a finger to Robin, moving to the door and he leaned out it before calling down the hall. “Guard! Get to the kitchen and bring me the first thing you find that has alcohol in it!” and a Ylissean guard quickly saluted before clamoring off into the distance.

Chrom turned now and he quickly turned one of Robin’s chairs around and sat down in it, his arms crossed over it’s back as he looked at Robin very intently.

“Sully.”

“Mmhm…”

“And Tharja?”

“Yes.”

Silence reigned in the room, Chrom’s brain creaking to a halt as he tried to process exactly what was happening right now. Then he snorted. He snorted loudly and lifted a hand to his face, snickers escaping him that were now turning into full force laughs as he leaned hard on the chair back and closed his eyes.

Who else in the world could overdo getting out of a dry spell? Robin. That’s who.

Robin seemed to stare at Chrom for a few moments before he shook his head and sat down, slumping into his chair and putting his hand on his cheek. “I’m so glad my sex life is so amusing to you, your Holiness.” he shot and Chrom couldn’t help it, he snorted again and leaned back off the chair.

“Hah! I can’t h-help it, it’s great! I mean it, it’s g-great, but…” Chrom said, trying hard to make clear how happy he was for Robin in this situation, but it was also shocking in a sense that he couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s just, it’s impressive and completely against everything I hold dear. Hah! Any other shattering revelations you want to share today?” he asked, still grinning at Robin.

Robin meanwhile couldn’t pretend Chrom’s amusement wasn’t infectious anymore and he smiled back, making a sort of dismissive hand gesture. “I secretly hate you.” to which Chrom had a short laugh.

“Not much of a secret, Robin.” he responded, just as the guard stepped in with a large bottle of some kind of wine and two glasses which Chrom took and set on the desk, uncorking as he motioned for the guard to leave them. The door was closed behind him and Chrom began pouring them both drinks, settling himself into the chair again.

“Now, I think I deserve to hear this story, all things considered…” Chrom started, to which Robin seemed to shiftily look away and busy his hands with paper once more.

“Well, it’s a long story-”

“Consider it an order from your Exalt, not a single piece of paper gets finished until you and I finish this conversation.”

Robin glared lightly at Chrom and then exhaled in an intentionally dramatic fashion, his hands going up into air before lowering to his lap. He didn’t take the wine Chrom poured, which Chrom barely noticed as Robin started talking.

Chrom had expected something a lot more fun than how the story started, as Robin looked down to his lap and started at the beginning; The dreams. Chrom didn’t even touch his wine at first, listening intently as Robin let loose the truth of what he’d been going through the past few weeks and Chrom didn’t even bother to call Robin on the lie he’d told the day before. Chrom suspected he was one of two people who knew the true extent of Robin’s grappling with his nature as Grima’s host and his relationship with the Fell Dragon before his death, he knew how deeply those wounds had run in Robin’s soul. So he didn’t begrudge him his response to these dreams.

Yet he still felt guilty, in a sense. He should have known Robin wouldn’t just rise from the dead and not have questions, questions Chrom had truly never thought to ask or look for answers to himself. He’d been so caught up in Robin’s return that he just...hadn’t wanted to think about what could truly have allowed it. He’d thanked Naga for her blessings and moved on with life, not asking any deeper questions...But Robin had instead been bearing the weight of those questions himself. It hit Chrom in his gut and yet he swallowed it down.

Robin’s story continued to Tharja’s surprise visit and the way she had explained what was wrong with him, and the confrontation Robin described was surreal enough Chrom had no trouble believing it. The idea of Robin possessing even a fraction of Grima’s power made Chrom curious, but he decided immediately against pressing the issue. There would be time to explore or discuss exactly what had changed in Robin later, this wasn’t it.

Of course Robin wasn’t quite detailed on what happened next, simply explaining that he and Tharja had recognized how much they meant to the other after he’d woken up and they’d spent the night together, which Chrom finally took a drink of his now warm wine and smirked again...Especially as Robin recounted the morning, and how Tharja had practically invited him to take other women to bed. Chrom’s eyebrows were practically in his hairline by this point.

“Whew. Can’t say I’m not surprised, but that’s...something else, for sure.” Chrom remarked, privately contemplating Sumia’s reaction if he ever asked for or suggested something like that. Not that he particularly wanted to, his wife and he were quite happy together, but the thought exercise seemed to come unbidden. Every scenario seemed to end with him frantically dodging spear swings from an infuriated Queen, and Chrom shook his head as snapped out of his reverie.

Robin just nodded, continuing to describe how Sully had met him outside, though he neglected to mention why Sully was so concerned. Somehow, Robin didn’t feel the need to share the details of their conversation and Chrom didn’t press, aside from Robin leading into how Sully had opened up about her own issues...And Chrom nodded, idly taking a drink from his wine.

If Sully had asked, Chrom would have let her leave to Ferox in a heartbeat. If Lon’qu had asked, Chrom would have stood before Flavia and Basilio to request Lon’qu be assigned as a permanent ambassador to Ylisse. Their romance during the war had been quite charming and afterwards Chrom had hoped one or both of them would give their duty up to be together, yet neither of them were the type to do so and he’d known it. Even Kjelle could not keep them together with their obligations weighing them down. It was tragic in many ways, but it was not Chrom’s place to interfere as it had not been his place to hound Robin or to meddle with any of the other Shepherds.

Somehow though, Chrom couldn’t help himself as he sipped the wine and an idle thought crossed his mind as he looked to Robin, tilting the glass towards him. “If anyone can pull off something this complicated it’s you, Robin, but what are you going to do about all this? It sounds...messy.” he asked, and Robin smiled rather softly. His answer? A shrug of his shoulders as he leaned back in the chair.

“I don’t really know, and I don’t think that bothers me...Tharja was always going to be complicated, and Sully...Sully knows exactly what she wants, and I think right now I just want to enjoy this without drowning it in questions.” Robin responded, truthfully, and Chrom could only smile. So even Robin was capable of going with the flow at times, huh?

A thought kept creeping into Chrom’s mind as he sat with Robin however, given this talk of relationships and women in his life; A thought Chrom might have thought better than to voice before Robin’s changes, but now? “Have you thought about what this means for you and-” he started, only to watch as just the implication of his question changed Robin’s face. The mirth and joy did not fade so much as they dulled and Robin lifted his eyes to Chrom with a suddenly pleading expression.

Tiki.

Chrom had left the subject alone above all else. He knew little of the brief romance the two had shared; They had fallen in love sometime after Tiki had joined their group to fight Grima and Morgan had appeared sometime after which both Tiki and Robin had greeted with a sense of joy, but when Robin had sacrificed himself to defeat Grima once and for all, Tiki had done what she could to help Morgan cope even as it was obvious she herself was hurting. Chrom had enjoyed her presence and her company, she and Morgan were both pieces of a friend he’d lost, until Robin had returned.

As abrupt as Robin’s rebirth had been, it seemed like the moment Tiki and Morgan had arrived, Tiki had vanished. There were no goodbyes, no explanations to Chrom or anyone else he could think of; Robin had simply explained she had to return to the tree and resume her duties as the Voice of Naga, but Robin had spoken of it with such pain that Chrom knew better than to pry. Even Morgan, sweet and energetic Morgan, was silent on the subject.

To see Robin moving forward with his life after that made Chrom happy, but there was a certain lingering uncertainty in his heart over the two. He knew Robin had truly loved the woman, and she had always seemed to love him in return. Perhaps his own love for Sumia was making it hard for him to be impartial to the subject, but it didn’t sit well with him in some regards.

Yet he recalled now how happy Robin had looked walking into the room, and how even in this conversation his spirits seemed lighter than ever before. If this was what it took to bring Robin back from the brink, if Tiki was truly part of Robin’s past? Then Chrom was more than happy to treat it that way.

“Well, to heck with it. Here’s a toast to Robin, the biggest playboy in Ylisse.” Chrom said, breaking the tension as Robin immediately laughed and reached out to his own glass, picking it up and tilting his head questioningly.

“Has Inigo gotten married or something?”

Both men immediately burst out laughing until they took their drinks of wine, both letting the conversation fall behind them and Chrom looked to the window now, idly noticing the darkness well over the trees. He motioned to it as he began to stand up, picking up the wine bottle as he went. “It looks like your work is over for the day, Grandmaster. Better get home to your woman. Hah! Never thought I’d say that…” Chrom started, grinning to himself all while Robin looked to his mountain of paperwork and opened his mouth, then shut it.

“Yeah, yeah...Better get to yours too Chrom, before I tell her about you and Basilio.”

Chrom jerked in response and just muttered about Robin taking the joke too far, even as he couldn’t help but grin at the comment, and then he raised his hand. “Get some rest. I’ll let you get to work tomorrow, I promise.” he spoke as he left Robin’s office, the door closing behind him again and he couldn’t help himself. As soon as he was alone he let out another soft chuckle, lifting his near empty wine glass up to his lips.

“Good luck, Robin.”

He sincerely thought Robin was going to need it, given the two he’d attached himself to.  
  


* * *

Going home was normally something Robin avoided for a variety of reasons. Typically, that his home was mostly empty unless he knew Morgan was waiting for him for some reason; Tonight, after spending the better part of the day driving through his backlog and the diversions he’d been presented in Sully and his talk with Chrom, Robin was more than happy to head back. Part of him wondered if Tharja truly was still waiting for him at home, which was immediately countered by the notion that was an incredibly stupid thought.

Tharja was the kind of woman who’d stay in bed all day just because she thought it would please him and he should have told her she needed to get up and enjoy herself, but then he recalled the circumstances of leaving her...She hadn’t exactly been sensible when he’d left, so leaving instructions was hardly possible. Instead he simply reminded himself that he needed to make sure she left the bed sometime after tomorrow morning if nothing else and he leaned over his desk to arrange his papers in a neat pile for next time.

Before he knew it he was out his door, instinctively going to tighten his coat around him in the night chill and realizing it was not there. The memories of Sully came flooding back in practically unbidden and he had to awkwardly force himself to calm down lest he wander the halls of the Palace with an erection at this time of the night. Even being the Grandmaster wouldn’t stop a bevy of rumors, especially after how many people had to have heard Sully earlier today…

Making his way across the Palace, Robin’s path took him over one of the inner walls overlooking the training yard. Often times he would use this particular location to oversee drills and exercises, sometimes it was a perfect position to address a group of trainees or an assembly during the day. At night it was usually quiet and peaceful, save perhaps a soldier or knight assigned cleanup duty or a patrol using it as a place to take a quick break.

Tonight however Robin was greeted with the sight of Cordelia in rare form. She had a training lance in both hands and a series of target dummies had been strewn about the exercise area, and she was working through them like a woman possessed. Her normally graceful and elegant form was moving through what he recognized as advanced spear drills without missing a beat, picture perfect footing taking her from a lunge into a spinning back-strike that sent straw from the target in a spray akin to blood.

Then her stance changed, her normally flawless form breaking and her weight went down on her backfoot as she turned, her spear flying forward and she let loose a frustrated cry as she launched it through two target dummies. Her training weapon was made entirely of wood and even still it carried itself for dozens of feet, colliding with a large post that held up a fence wall and embedding itself in the heavy log until a few inches of the weapon’s tip emerged from the backside. Robin swallowed lightly and turned away, recognizing this was not a practice session to be admired.

He heard a dull snapping sound he recognized must have been Cordelia snapping the embedded part of her spear off and then the sound of more impacts of wood on straw. Whomever or whatever Cordelia was so frustrated with, he did not want to be anywhere near them. He would make a note to check on her later and see if there was anything he could do to help, especially if it was Cordelia…

It took some willpower not to turn and march down to her in the training yard, but Cordelia dealt with things in her own way and at her own pace. She internalized things heavily before letting others help her with them and if he came to her when she was in this state he was more likely to watch her swallow it all down then make any meaningful progress. So despite his internal objections, he left her to her own devices…

Once Robin left the palace his night calmed considerably, the journey back to his home relatively short and peaceful all things considered. He passed a few patrols and other late dwellers from the palace making their way home but none who he felt the need to speak to and has he crossed the bridge to his home he noticed there were lights still on upstairs but not downstairs, lanterns peering through the curtains. Morgan usually only left her room lit when she was home unless she had company and her window was consciously dark, so that left a few options as to who was up and about.

When he stepped into his home Robin noted how quiet it was in the darkness around him, a sort of stillness he realized he wasn’t normally aware of and it relaxed him as he loosened his shirt with one hand, stretching back slightly. His guard dropped for a moment, just a moment, and that’s when it happened.

It was like the darkness solidified to his side even as he knew that was impossible and the form of Tharja swayed forward with one heel carefully landing in front of the other as she walked. She wasn’t quite as naked as he remembered her, instead one of his rumbled shirts clinging to her frame and he had to admit how gorgeous it looked on her. Sleeves bunched up near her hands, the chest barely held in by the wide neck of it, hanging low over her hips to just barely cover her thighs and everything was so tantalizing in how brazenly hidden it was. She could have come at him naked, but this looked so much more intimate.

Before he knew it she was against him, her hands coming to his sides and her face buried in his chest with a deep inhale just as always, but her dark eyes lifted and he watched her scan over him. There was no light and for Tharja it must have been hard to see, yet Robin was able to take her in without any difficulty. Her hair was mussy and a little frazzled but it hardly mattered when all it did was made her look more wild and needy…

Then her hand raised and she cupped his cheek silently, there were no words needed as she admired him from her position. He could see her eyes closing as she pushed herself up on her feet and kissed him, their lips connecting with an electric spark of sorts that had him shivering against her. His arms came around her and pulled her close, his back hitting his front door and together they lost themselves into a flare of passion. Her hand drifted down his shoulder and the other tightened in his shirt yet all at once her hand came over the marks on his neck and she stopped, the kiss frozen as she snapped her eyes open and she met his eyes. There was a flash of something, but he didn’t recognize it at first; Like heat had glazed her eyes for a moment.

All at once she was pulled back and she drifted her hands down to his belt where he had lost any self control he had, his pants uncomfortably tight after Tharja’s grinding embrace. “Already? Mmmn...I expected nothing less from my Robin.” she practically cooed, her voice a seductive roll as her legs dipped under her and she was kneeling in front of him. Her hand pushed his pants from his hips and the other quickly divested him of the cloth covering his cock which now sprang forward right in front of Tharja’s face.

Her hands lowered to his thighs where the fingertips now traced the muscles and scars of his legs, his breath hitching lightly as he felt her breath roll over his shaft; It was coming in heavy, excited waves that betrayed her lust far more than the expression on her face, lidded eyes and open mouth near his flesh. “Tell me, Robin...All of it.”

He swallowed a breath. The sheer weight of the need in her voice would have given him pause under any normal circumstances but then her tongue curled from her lips and slipped around the head of his dick and he had to lean further back on the door. One of her hands came up to wrap around the base of his shaft and her hand shivered as she looked up at him, eyes wild with desire. “Who was it? Who threw themselves at my Robin? Did you defile one of those beautiful princesses with your thick cock…” she murmured, her voice hazing as she seemed to stare past him, her voice still against him. “...Mmhhhn...Or did you...did you break one of those...fearless knights?”

Every breath was practically a shudder and Robin realized he could not feel her other hand anymore, her fingers disappearing between her bare legs and soft sounds began to emerge from beneath her. He reached out and his hand slipped into her hair, fingers curling against her scalp. Without even thinking about it, perhaps in response to her need, Robin pushed his cock against her mouth and she greedily opened it to accept him.

“S-sully. It was Sully. She…” he started, his cheeks rushing with blood as Tharja’s lips closed around his shaft and her tongue began to squirm underneath it, lavishing the underside with attention from the flat of it. Something about how Tharja was speaking just boiled his blood, even as he refused to let himself contemplate how focused her fantasies were already. Defiling princesses and breaking knights? When he thought about it sounded so distant, not even a fantasy, but to hear it from her was as if she had already knew it would happen.

Tharja’s hand began stroking his cock in time with the rhythm of her mouth, her lips swallowing more and more of his flesh as he continued. “She met me outside and we talked...and she...I told her I’d be interested…” he murmured, Tharja’s mouth vibrating in a lilting chuckle at that, but she didn’t break her concentration or her task. He could hardly focus on what he was saying, it all seemed so insane and surreal. “So she...called me outside at the palace…”

“W-we kissed- Fuck!” and he nearly lost one of his knees as Tharja’s hand dipped down to his balls, grasping them firmly and instead of stroking him she pushed her lips further down. Her tongue was flattened by him and now it was just squirming wildly against the bottom of him while her eyes watered and she seemed to have to adjust herself. The sounds of her swallowing him were mingling with the sounds of her fingers plunging inside her sex and she was now looking up at him. Desperately, expectantly.

His hand tightened in her hair as that look sent a heat rising through him. “Right there...in the woods, I fucked her. I planted her against a tree and I let her have what she wanted.” and if Tharja had been wanton before, now she was devouring him. Her lips brushed the base of his cock and she gagged before she forced herself back, her eyes streaming in a way that should have made him concerned she was upset, but no. She was so flushed in the face, so lustful that there was no mistaking what she wanted.

“I fucked her until her clothes were ruined. She screamed my name and the entire training yard had to have heard it, and I didn’t give a damn...Fuck, what have you done to me…” he started, his voice harsh as he muttered the last part. The idea of doing something like that, something like this, would have never occurred to him until Tharja spoke of it and now it seemed so normal…

Dimly, he realized her mouth had left him and her hand had pulled back too, the woman staring up at him as her other hand lifted and both came near her mouth. She was shivering and leaning into his hand. Then she spoke. “S-show me...Robin, please...Show me...here…” she half-mumbled, before two fingers hooked the sides of her mouth and she opened it wide, her tongue lolling out. Droplets of saliva were collecting on it’s tip and threatening to spill over as Robin once again lost any sense of breath, of time.

He knew what she was asking, and he knew he should be concerned for her. Ask her if she was sure, ask her if she was ready, ask her if- His hand tightened on her head and Robin slammed his hips forward. His cock disappeared into her mouth, her tongue sliding over him as the head pushed down her throat and the rest followed until his skin connected with her lips. Immediately she convulsed, her fingers never moving but her body arching at the way he filled her throat. He pulled back right away, her voice ragged as she coughed and without hesitation he thrust again.

Their eyes never broke contact, she never moved away from his hand or pushed against him. He could hardly stop himself now. “She begged for me to fuck her harder- to fill her…” he recalled, Tharja’s lips somehow curling into a positively lurid smile even as she let him continue unhindered. Her pussy had been tight and velvet against him, her mouth had swallowed him and she had sucked him until he felt the ache of need, her tongue against him had made it only better.

This? This was something beyond words. There was more than just the physical here. Even if her tongue was wonderful as it slid against him, even if her throat was so incredibly tight and clamped against him with her every shaking gasp and she kept trying to swallow more and more of him through her soft convulses, less and less frequent. What made Robin’s cock throb most, what spurred him on, was the way her eyes continued to sparkle as she stared up at him. Rapt attention to his every word, his every desire. It awoke something in Robin.

“I gave it to her, I fucked her until I was sure that tree would break...just...like...this…” he groaned, his head reeling back as he gave his next few thrusts his all; He could feel where his hips collided with her lips and how deep he pushed into her and then he felt her suddenly shudder against him, her tongue flailing against him. When he looked down he was greeted by her eyes squeezing shut, a fresh torrent of tears streaming down her face as a sound of pure bliss fled her throat. He heard a dripping sound now picking up in intensity before slowing down and realized Tharja’s arousal was pooling on the floor beneath them.

She’d cum, just from this. Just from swallowing his cock and hearing him recount his time with Sully, and that more than anything else provoked his own orgasm. It had burnt in him for minutes now but he had held back more out of desire to prolong the situation than anything else, but no more. He sent his free hand to her head and pulled her down with both to the base of his rod in a harsh motion that seemed to surprise her, a noise escaping before it was drowned out by his groan of release. He could feel his seed flowing in gouts that filled her throat, her hands moving to his thighs and she actively pulled herself further down on him as rivers of white began to run out of the sides of her mouth, her grip tightening in desperation as she tried to keep herself on him a little longer…

He knew before she did she couldn’t handle anymore and he pulled her free as he felt her grip weaken and she immediately sputtered for breath, her eyes glazed as she leaned back and gasped. His cum now rushed out of her mouth and down her chin, coating the top of his shirt and she made a sound halfway between a moan and whine as she reached her hands up and began cupping the hot seed into her fingers where she brought it to her lips and began greedily sucking or licking it up. Tangled strands of saliva and cum were still clinging to him and her lip and even without his recent endurance Robin would have found it hard to grow soft at the sight of her lifting his shirt to her lips and sucking the stained cum from it. She was swallowing gulps of air every moment she wasn’t licking up his cum and as soon as she realized she had gotten it all she lunged for him.

Her lips swallowed his cock to the base all over again, her hands moving to his thighs as she lavished him with her tongue, swirling and spiraling it over him as she seemed to search for the remainder of his seed, every part of it that she had missed. Robin could barely stand from the door as she did but he managed it, pushing her off him lightly and she looked up at him immediately, her mouth open and her voice hoarse as she whimpered.

His hands came down and he hooked them under her shoulders, hefting her up as if she weighed nothing at all. Common sense demanded he stop here, he let her clean up, he do all sorts of proper things that should have come naturally and been forefront in his mind and instead Robin slammed Tharja by her back into the side window of his entranceway. His hands dropped down to grab her thighs and force them apart onto the glass, her eyes wild and wide as she reached out for his face. She couldn’t speak and she couldn’t do more than react as he closed their distance and arched his back into her.

Robin speared past her lips in an instant while elicited a strangled hiss from Tharja immediately. Her hands wrapped around his neck and pulled him into her chest as she reveled in the feeling yet Robin was not content to be idle. His head turned and he caught one of her breasts as he buried himself in her, lips snapping over her nipple and her hiss turned into a delighted moan. Her sex convulsed and smothered around him in waves of pleasure and he could hardly think straight. Passion and instinct drove this and he had little reason to stop himself.

The first thrust rattled the glass, the second made Tharja shriek out in such a way any other sound was dulled and by the third Robin had pushed his teeth against her nipple and her sounds became constant, grunts or moans punctuating a constant wall of heady panting and breaths whenever his cock bottomed out inside her. At this angle, with her arousal so intense, he could feel his cock kissing her cervix and he had to force himself to stop before he went any deeper, the feeling of restrained burning his muscles and his lungs more than any exertion until now.

Once again he and Tharja were lost in each other completely, their bodies melding and colliding in sounds that left nothing to imagination any more than their physical states. Sometime during the movements Tharja hands began pulling Robin’s shirt off and he let her, his chest now against hers and he could feel the hammering of her heart, feel the incredible heat of her core as he rammed and scraped against it.

It felt like hours, it may well have been, but he never lost his intensity or his pace. He was amazed he hadn’t shattered the window behind Tharja yet and her voice had never wavered or broken, not yet. He’d already lost count of the times her folds had clamped down on him and her voice rose in pitch, or when her nails had dug into him and she screeched his name into the quiet night air. Each time her legs would shake wildly and her pussy unleashed another torrent of fluids that dripped down his cock. He had come close time and time again but somehow forced it down, bottling it up. Distantly he grappled with formations and complicated tactical problems he’d encountered to sustain himself, but it was rapidly failing to hold him back.

Then it happened. Tharja’s head dipped down and in a voice so happily broken he would swear he imagined it she spoke; “Plheaaase...Robiin...pl...please. I need…” and then it died, her voice quiet as she inhaled sharply into his hair and finally she could speak no more, her body slumping into him. She was still moving, but it was clear he had exhausted her through his intensity and in that moment whatever reason to hold on he had left him.

The next thrust he swore resounded from her core to her hair from how she flew back into the window, her hands digging into him as he came inside her. There was so much built up from his restraining himself, he could feel his shaft pulsing inside her and it splattered her insides in thick waves of release. By the second one he’d felt his seed leaking out of her into streams, by the third she was pushing into him to seal her lips around his cock and every pulse after that seemed to make her shudder against him, her stomach growing hotter and hotter against him until finally there was no more, and Tharja’s head lifted to blearily look down at him from her slightly elevated position.

He’d robbed her of her voice through this all, yet her eyes were expressive as ever. Lust and weariness battled there, her fingers tightening and loosening on his back involuntarily, before she collapsed down onto him and just kissed him. He ignored the taste of himself on her lips and he held that kiss until there was no more air between them, his lips caressing hers and capturing them between his teeth, tongue stroking hers and hers tangling with his in return almost languidly...She was exhausted and as soon as he broke the kiss she buried her face in his neck.

There would be a mess to explain in the morning but Robin could not bring himself to particularly bother, shifting his feet to kick off his shoes. His shirt was then kicked into the worst of it and he wrapped his arms around Tharja’s body, holding her close and moving to go towards the upstairs. He once again would be putting an exhausted Tharja to bed and he could not find an ounce of remorse or regret in himself for it...She had practically begged for him to exhaust himself on and in her, and he felt a sense of thrill overcome him at her reactions and responses.

Whatever it was that Tharja evoked in him, he found himself liking it. It had now faded in it’s own way, falling back to the constant heat inside him that had become in some ways comforting to feel. He padded his way, now completely nude, through his darkened halls and for a moment he could have sworn he felt something watching him but when he turned he saw only his empty sitting room, not a person to be seen…

Dismissing it, perhaps too quickly, Robin stepped upstairs with Tharja murring pleasantly into him, her arms encircled on his back and her face in his neck...Then her eyes opened and she met the gaze in the living room. Her lips split into an absolutely wicked grin and she pulled herself closer to Robin.

She was staring straight into Morgan’s eyes as she peered up from behind the couch, her breath coming in shuddering gasps as she returned Tharja’s gaze as long as she could before her legs gave out and she was back to kneeling, her legs soaked and her shirt pulled up over her chest. She cast a look at her thoroughly sticky, sore fingers before she let her hand drop to her side and her head fell onto the back of the couch, eyes staring up at the ceiling as Robin’s footsteps faded in the background.

Silently she pulled herself up, gathering her own clothing off the floor and holding it in her arms...Then she moved over towards the pile of clothing Robin had left behind, picking through it and rounding it up with her own before she moved to follow Robin upstairs. Even on her shaking legs she would manage it upstairs without altering the thoroughly distracted Robin.

Both would fall into their beds, Robin with Tharja curling up atop him and still not releasing his cock from inside her and Morgan collapsing as she hit the sheets, her eyes closing almost immediately. Exhaustion would claim her even as Tharja and Robin shared a silent moment, their lips meeting before they together laid in silence to await sleep, one of their hands coming together and their fingers lacing.

Father and daughter, together, would both find themselves thoroughly satisfied with the night that had just occurred.


	7. Three Awakenings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin and Tharja's morning after makes them both reflect and Morgan continues to grow into her feelings. Meanwhile, Robin's indiscretion begins to reveal cracks in a fellow Shepherd's armor and Tharja begins to be indiscreet herself...for Robin's sake, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning everyone!
> 
> This chapter is a nice break from the lemons and instead a nice, emotionally driven chapter all around. I hope you enjoy it and the things it's setting up for the future, as well as a new POV for everyone to enjoy!
> 
> As always please feel free to comment or drop me a line on Discord!

Sunrise over Ylisse was naturally a slightly busy time where the city would begin to prepare for a day ahead, others finally returning home after long nights. Merchants began to fill the streets, farmers were beginning to filter into town after preparing goods, patrols were changing over to the day watch and more people filled the formerly empty streets. Yet in some parts of the city, especially towards the Palace, this was an exceptionally quiet time as few noblemen or important figures had need to rise before the sun. Some special cases did exist and some of the more noteworthy figures in the city were rising or had been awake for some time.

Robin was one of those such people, but his reason for waking was quite different than any of his peers.

He had been up since the early hours of the morning with Tharja. After their wild and frantic meeting last night in his foyer they had retired to his bedroom and Robin had fallen into a comfortable sleep alongside her. It would have been strange how easily Robin was able to drift away given how alert and energetic he had felt but there was a simple reason for it; Tharja herself. He had laid awake for only a few minutes after she had fallen asleep, perhaps passed out, atop him and her peaceful breathing had been all the lullaby he’d needed.

Still he’d woken before her in the earliest lights of morning and instead of any grogginess he had seemingly snapped awake, his eyes focusing on the ceiling above as he reached up and found Tharja still nestled into his chest. She had curled up so that her legs slipped between his and her arms were tucked against his shoulders while her head laid dead center on his chest with her cheek over his heart. His fingers slipped into her hair as they laid together and instead of disturbing her, Robin closed his eyes again.

It had been so long. So long since he had woken to the warmth of another person, so long since his morning had been filled with the comforting whispers of breath against his skin or the gentle murmurs of contentment as his fingers lost themselves to playing in Tharja’s messy and wild tresses. Soon his fingers began to move across her in circles he traced on her scalp, his nails moving against the back of her neck and then down her spine with his fingertips. She responded like a content cat, her back arching and her head twisting face down into his chest while she let a blissful exhale that turned into a groan of awareness before her head twisted and she looked up at him with one heavily lidded eye.

“Hhmmn...Good morning~” she murmured in a particularly happy little tone as she turned her head and instead of getting up her lips came to his chest. She began to kiss across him, starting with his upper torso. Her lips came down on the defined muscles and her kisses trailed circles down to his abdomen where her kisses began to fall into the small dips created by his figure. Robin might have looked and acted the part of a bookkeeper, but frequent training sessions with Chrom and many of the other Shepherds had made him proud of his toned figure and never more than now as Tharja lavished him with attentive kisses.

His head turned and he reached up to slide his hand over hers, pulling it off his shoulder as their fingers laced and he began to kiss against her wrist as he lifted it, kissing down her arm in response. There was passion in this but not the raw lust of their encounter last night, the needs they felt taking an entirely different form as Robin pulled Tharja up off his chest and she made a sound of disappointment before pushing herself with her knees to come face to face with Robin.

Her hair was falling over her face and his, her lips rough and cracked yet she was smiling so sweetly as she lifted her hand to cup his cheek, her palm caressing his chin. Those normally smokey and deep eyes were glassy from sleep and yet still managed to shine at him and he returned it with his own as he pulled himself up to kiss her. Their lips met softly at first, practically chaste compared to last night, but Robin lifted his hand to her hair and Tharja’s hand moved to Robin’s neck with a soft twist and all at once it grew deeper.

Their lips slipped between the others, their teeth catching and tugging as they shifted in their positions. Robin’s leg came up to nudge between Tharja’s legs and hold her to him as she slipped her ankles under his leg still on the bed and they locked together like that in a moment Robin could honestly say he wished would never end. 

When finally it did end Tharja was the one to break free, her thumb curving up over his lips and she stared into his eyes as she opened her mouth, hesitating only a second before she leaned her head down to press their foreheads together. “I...love you, my Robin.” she whispered, and Robin could feel his heart skip a moment before he used his hold on the back of her head to pull her in. Instead of a kiss, Robin pressed his lips near hers. Near enough their breaths brushed each other’s lips and speaking would practically be a kiss.

It had been two days, most of which had been filled with sex and reckless exploration and Robin had already slept with another woman with her permission, hell, at her request. There could have certainly been more romance to it all, but did there need to be? Tharja had been there for him throughout everything, in his darkest moments during the war and after. She’d been devoted to him for years and had put everything on hold when she had heard he was in trouble to come to his aid.

He cared about her. He trusted her with everything, even the darkness he had hidden from Chrom and everyone else. He relied on her and she asked nothing in return but his friendship until he had given more. Tharja was a remarkable woman and in that moment Robin could admit that he loved her. No matter what odd forms their relationship took, Robin loved her.

“I love you, Tharja.”

The change that came over Tharja was instantaneous. She had been passionate and her eyes had been drifting closed as if she expected a kiss, but the moment he responded to her those eyes snapped open and her face began to flood with red as she leaned back up off him. Her hands came to her cheeks and she looked like she was trying to cover her face, or perhaps the positively adorable smile that rapidly swelled. He saw tears form in her eyes and he chased her up off the bed, easily pushing her onto her side and slipping himself into her neck through the gap in her arms. He wrapped his arms around her sides and began to pepper her with kisses, half catching her neck and others slipping over her collar and shoulders.

Her shocked silence turned into giggles as she slipped her hands around his back and her own lips came down on his forehead, and the two began to practically roll together as they fought over who could kiss the other more; Tharja being at the disadvantage that she was smiling too wide to properly kiss, while he could hardly contain a little sound of joy every time his lips touched her. Then, abruptly it all ended as their rolling and tangling in the bedsheets slipped them right off it’s edge.

“Ah! Robin!?” Tharja cried as they went tumbling off onto their stomachs on the hardwood, the sheets flapping down over their tangled forms. She was laying on his back with her breasts squeezed into his back, the size enough to cover most of his shoulder blades and give him a goofy grin as he laid on the floor. It took them a few seconds, but Robin broke the silence by laughing softly and reaching up to tangle his fingers into her hair again from behind.

“I’m fine, just forgot where the edge was…” he murmured, leaning his head back to touch the back of it to her forehead and she giggled even as she kissed him for the comment. Finally being off the bed, however, meant he was forced to acknowledge that the world outside of it existed and with a groan he laid his head back on the floor. “I suppose we ought to bathe, I have to get to the palace eventually.” to which Tharja nodded and began to pull herself up off him, slipping the bed sheet back onto it’s proper place as Robin rosed alongside her.

Together the two of them made it into the bathroom and began to pull themselves into the water, where their lips could hardly keep apart as they washed the previous night’s stains from their skin.

* * *

On the other side of the second floor, Morgan’s morning was beginning as it always did. With her eyes slowly opening one at a time, hands tangled in her pillows and one leg hanging off the bed. Then her eyes slowly drifted closed as she roiled in the bed, stretching lightly and turning her head to one side. Her hair flopped over her face, frizzled and clinging with static from repeated rubbings into her sheets and pillow before her chest began to slowly lower and rise once more. It took her own snoring to awaken her, the rumbling sound sending her jerking up in bed with her hands still holding her pillows which she now lifted up as she became alert.

Morgan was also still quite naked from the night before. Her thighs were stained and filthy from the amount of times she had climaxed from what she’d witnessed up close and personal, her pussy aching lightly and she tried to move her leg only for a dinner candle to roll off her bed and onto the floor incriminatingly, coming to a stop in the center of the hardwood almost dramatically.

Oh yeah, she had fallen asleep with that still inside her, hadn’t she?

Releasing the pillows Morgan reached up to scratch her bare breasts, the motion causing them to jiggle wonderfully and then she winced a little before rubbing her finger at one of her sore nipples, reminding herself that maybe twisting them so hard wasn’t the best idea if she wanted to wear a shirt today. Still sore and with an ache in her neck Morgan climbed out of bed and lifted one hand above her head, stretching with an arched back before she stumbled over her discarded clothing and she hissed as she kicked it under her bed, giving a satisfied smirk as it disappeared into the mess underneath.

Problem solved! No laundry to clean if the laundry was never found. Her room was still somewhat dark but she had made her way to the bathroom so many times before even in pitch blackness that it was no difficulty navigating inside and running her hand over the lantern inside to turn it up to a far too intense brightness that had her hand coming up to cover her poor, sensitive eyes and she groaned aloud. Still she continued inside and soon she lowered her hand as she approached the tub inside the room.

Like Robin’s bathroom hers was compact and housed a washing basin alongside a magicked tub, her hand touching the symbol on it that made it fill but she quickly twisted her hand alongside it and incanted in a groggy mutter which made an additional symbol appear atop it and the water immediately began gushing with steamy goodness that Morgan happily sighed at.

Then she pushed herself into the tub facefirst, her stomach and tits sliding along the smooth tub as she snaked her way across the bottom until she could curve no further up and she was forced to roll over. Her legs were hanging over the side of the tub and her face was barely peering out of the water, hair floating around her in a nice little halo as she began experimentally wiggling her limbs inside the water.

Such a blissful start to the morning made the aches and consequences of her long night fade, especially as she began to relax in the water and let her mind drift over it all again…

The first time had been a pure accident, a sight she knew she morally shouldn’t have been so transfixed by, but when had she ever been exactly moral? If she wanted to lie to herself she could hold onto something about having never seen sex before, technically true but also irrelevant, or she could make some excuse about how beautiful Tharja was which was also true but not the point. Even if Morgan could have buried her face in those fat udders and die happy, or if she could easily picture dark little Tharja straddling Morgan’s head between those gorgeous thighs and-

Whoa! Morgan’s eyes snapped open and she shook her head in the water, chastising herself for getting off topic. No, the topic at hand was her father’s fat cock and the images of him driving it into her sopping wet hole, not how good Tharja’s tongue would feel buried in the same place. Torrid incestual fantasies first, burgeoning lesbian fantasies later when that first part was dealt with.

Morgan could have lied to herself but the truth was, as alluring as Tharja was, she had decided to spy again because of Robin. The man could fuck like a stallion and he knew how to use everything he had. She’d seen those fingers drive Tharja out of her mind and she’d watched him fuck the woman senseless twice now, and if what she heard last night was even remotely any indication then he’d done the same to Sully and that thought filled her with a twisted little hope, because at least there wasn’t any pesky cheating or relationship drama to deal with.

Which, sadly, meant she couldn’t get into an oddly hot catfight with Tharja that would have them pulling at each other’s hair and wrestling on the ground and fuck she needed to just get stuffed already, Naga be praised.

Groaning aloud in the water Morgan pulled herself back underneath, crossing her arms grumpily over her chest. It wasn’t like she was some sort of shut in, she’d been on plenty of dates and gone out with a lot of guys! Inigo and her had gotten along really well, but she’d never been interested in him like that and despite how obviously flirty and over the top he was the man respected that. Even when it was clear she wasn’t going to fall into his arms swooning he never stopped taking her out for her company and always charmed her up just the same as anyone else. It was flattering! It was sweet! It was definitely not what Morgan really wanted.

She wanted what Tharja was getting. For some man to just pull her up off her feet and pin her to a wall and Robin’s rough, sex filled voice to whisper for her to spread her legs and scream his name and break her into little pieces that came back together again only after she’d cum herself dry and couldn’t walk for a week.

The need to breathe interrupted Morgan’s self fit and she pulled herself up out of the tub, water rushing out of her hair and over her as she sat down now and lifted a leg, grabbing a cloth to pull it from her ankle to her silky thigh. It didn’t help that despite being her dad, between his year of dying and the complicated magical bullshit that had dropped her in this particular time, he was actually only a little older than her and having a dad who was this hot and the same age? Good combination, really really good combination.

She’d probably had feelings for him for a long time now, but it wasn’t like there had been some divine sign for it that she had noticed. It was always his eyes and how he looked at her, how he looked when he didn’t think she was paying attention, the way his eyes creased a little when he was exasperated with her or the way he held her when she was sad. Those kind of moments she shouldn’t have felt so intimately, but had. It wasn’t until he’d watched her plowing Tharja like a ripe field that it had all clicked into place for her.

Morgan now had to exhale again and groan as she flopped back against the smooth surface of the tub and lift her other leg, now cleaning it of her lust. She still had no idea what to do to actually make anything happen, though! Robin was oblivious because he probably had no idea his daughter was pounding herself raw on the dinner lighting to the thought of him balls deep in her asshole and making her beg for more. That particular one had gotten her biting a hole in her pillow which she was oddly proud of, which in itself was really weird.

She remembered Tharja’s look as Robin carried her off. Oh they’d definitely seen each other, and Tharja definitely knew what Morgan was doing. Not that it was hard to guess why Morgan was naked on the dining room floor watching with rapt attention as her dad’s sexy ass disappeared into the darkness. Has his cheeks always been so toned she could have bounced a coin off them? Had she just never noticed before?

Finally Morgan just thrust herself back into the water and began untangling her hair in an equal mixture of arousal and frustration. Her pussy was soaked despite the water, her face was red from anything but the steam and she had to actually do things today so she couldn’t excuse herself to spend the entire day testing candle thickness!

Soon she was practically launching herself from the tub and grabbing up a towel in each hand, beginning to dry herself off as her problems churned over and over in her head. She needed to find a fix to all of this, soon, or she was just going with Plan Z: Sneak into Robin’s room, deepthroat him until he stopped having any moral complaints and then ride him until the bed broke.

Though Plan Z still sounded really fucking appealing…

* * *

Robin and Tharja’s bath was no more productive, though far less frustrating and filled with many more giggles and laughs as the pair finally stepped back into the bedroom, Tharja naked except for a towel around her head and Robin’s own slung over his shoulder and he stepped to the trunk at the foot of his bed where he opened it and it’s hinged groaned loudly at the despicable act of forcing it to open.

Digging into it for a fresh change of clothes, Robin could not help but glance up as Tharja finally tossed the towel aside and bent down next to his bed, presenting her full ass on display to him. Two firm, ample cheeks that failed to conceal either her swollen and pink sex or the dusky rose of her ass and how he felt very sure she might beg him to stuff himself inside either hole if he told he her wished it…

Yet, despite the fact that the mere thought of that sent his cock hard and throbbing, Robin couldn’t find it in himself to crave sex just yet. This morning had been too perfect for every other reason besides how enticing Tharja was and to just throw her onto the bed would have been a crass way to cap things off...No, that was better saved for tonight.

Tharja’s rustling was revealed to be her picking up a cloth bag that she was pulling her own clothes out of, discreetly tucked away next to Robin’s bed and with a start he realized she must have known, or suspected, something like this all would have happened...Wait, how much of this had she planned? Almost as if reading his mind Tharja turned her head and her cheeked reddened before she turned away, quickly pulling her bra up over her face to hide it before lowering it to slip it on. It took no small effort for her to pull the straps behind her back and without thinking, Robin stepped over to her and grasped the straps.

He could figure out enough of how they worked to begin clasping them for her and she breathed a sigh of relief at the help, giving him a shy and still flushed smile over her shoulder. Robin stepped away once he’d finished his task and spoke for the first time in a bit, stepping over to his trunk to resume finding clothes. 

“I need to be heading to the palace, after breakfast with Morgan. Do you have any plans today, or will I be coming home to a beautiful woman in my bedroom, hmn?” he asked, grinning at the thought as he finally found a shirt in the pile. Tharja seemed to chuckle as her panties were pulled up her legs now, a soft snapping sound indicating they were released.

When she turned, it was holding a spare robe of hers over her head and letting it fall down over her beautiful curves. “As much as I want to dedicate my every waking moment to pleasing you...and as much as I want to lounge in your bed all day.” she replied, her tone alternating between richly lustful and perhaps a little shy, drifting off into murmurs. “...I did come back to report my findings to the great Grandmaster of Ylisse, and the Exalt, didn’t I~? I’ll be seeing you at the palace…” she murmured, stepping over as the robe fell into place and she now slipped a hand up Robin’s thigh, tracing a finger over his waist.

The idea of him having Tharja in his office also made his dick spring back to attention and he grinned a little. “Mmn, I can’t wait to hear all about the discoveries you’ve made...I’m not even talking about throwing you over my desk, either.” he said, and Tharja made a very unladylike snort as she leaned into him and nestled into his neck.

“I’ll need to see Noire, too...a-and then I’ll be coming back to see you, to spend the night…?” she spoke, half asking as her hands came to his hips as he began slipping his pants on. For a moment he blinked, hardly understanding why she was asking, but then he reached down and caught her hand in his.

That she had to ask, that she still felt that uncertain, made Robin pull her hand to his lips and he kissed across her palm while turning to face her. “You’re coming back as soon as you can. And you’re staying every night. If you want you can even have Noire join you. Morgan would love the company.” he spoke and Tharja’s eyes lit up again, though he immediately saw a strange glaze come over them.

She was leaning on him, hard, curling up his arm and she pulled her lips close to his ear as she kissed him there, then she let loose a throaty giggle. “Mmn...I bet Morgan would...but I bet my Robin would love the company more…?” she asked, and Robin turned his head to her with his eyebrows raised at the implication.

“You mean, me...and Noire?” he asked, but Tharja just smiled at him in a way that made his cock throb and his blood rush a little faster through him, especially as she wordlessly turned and drifted off back to her back with an almost dance like step. Wait, was she serious?

No, of course she was serious. This is Tharja. Of course she was telling him she expected him to be fucking her daughter and somehow that thought still seemed so alien to him despite Sully being fresh in his mind. Noire was one of his daughter’s best friends, and more importantly she had no idea what was going on. To think about what it would be like to have Tharja and Noire both lapping at his cock, or how having both of their ample tits pressed into him as he laid across his bed…

That was wrong, and really hot. A groan suddenly escaped him and he reached up to run his fingers through his hair, his pants pulling up over his painfully erect cock and he did his best to pull himself together despite it. He looked to Tharja with a half grin, tsking now. “You’re a terrible influence, woman.” and she let loose a lilting laugh.

“I’m not doing anything, Robin~ Certainly not making you think about fucking my daughter.”

Robin was now beginning to re-think his decision to not cap the morning off by taking Tharja again. He looked to the window, it was barely sunrise and he smirked as he began approaching her...There was still time.

“Sir Robin.”

The abrupt knocking on his door made him inwardly curse as he recognized his head butler’s voice, the distinguished older man waiting until Robin called for him to enter to step inside the room. Robin was all at once thankful for and loathed the man in equal measures and the butler stepped inside while bowing his head. He was carefully averting his gaze from either Tharja or Robin as if he expected them to be in a state of undress, not that Robin blamed the man really…

“Breakfast is served, milord. I have prepared three portions for the household and your guest if that pleases you.” the butler explained as he lifted his head and Robin just smiled and nodded, then dismissed the man with a quiet motion of his hand.

“That is more than acceptable. Please return to your duties.”

On normal mornings, this is typically when Robin’s day began. Breakfast with Morgan had been interrupted slightly by Tharja’s presence and, unknown to him, Morgan’s absolute mess of a state yesterday but today was going to be like any other. Just...with a new person at the table. Tharja was idly sitting on his bed now and watching as Robin pulled on and laced the heavy boots he insisted on wearing until he was done and she rose off the bed as he turned to begin looking for the last of his coats; After Kjelle and Sully had taken other two, he was down to the final one he owned before he’d have to go without it for an entire day.

If he could find it, that was. Robin had sworn he’d pulled it free and set it over his bedpost but it was not there when he looked again. He turned to ask Tharja if she’d seen him misplace the damned thing and then the next thing he’d known she was behind him. He felt the coat’s sleeves slipping onto his arms and she pushed it onto him intimately, her hands sliding up his arms until the coat was securely on him and then she moved to sliding up his back, tightening and adjusting how it sat on him. Her fingers were precise, smoothing wrinkles and twisting buttons into place until she could find nothing more to help him with.

When he turned, Tharja tucked herself into his chest and kissed him without a word and then stepped back, her fingers lacing in front of her waist as she stepped out of the room. He could have sworn he saw a shy smile forming on her face and he couldn’t help but chuckle as he moved to follow her. He could get used to this, really…

* * *

Tharja was proud of herself. She wasn’t letting Robin see just how deeply he’d affected her, she was maintaining her composure and that was important. If Robin saw how excited she was, and how she was forcing herself not to bow her legs from ache between them, she didn’t know exactly how he’d react but she didn’t want to see it. Tharja needed to remain in control of herself.

It wasn’t easy. She almost couldn’t. She could feel her lips fighting to smile even as she walked down the hallway of Robin’s home, recalling vaguely where she’d seen the kitchen downstairs and even as she tried to maintain her gait she nearly had to hide her face from just the sheer overwhelming emotion thrumming in her chest.

She loved Robin, that much had been clear to her from the first days they’d known each other. It hadn’t just been how handsome he was, or how cunning and intelligent he was. It wasn’t even the power she could plainly feel beating beneath the surface of him or the darkness she had sensed in those days. It was just how instantly comfortable he was to be around. Other men stared at her and treated her vulgarly because of her figure or avoided her because of her nature and while she hardly cared, it gave her a standard of how she would be live her life.

Robin had always just smiled at her and talked to her like a normal woman. Like anyone else. Like a Shepherd, even as the others held a mixture of fear and respect. Maybe the rest had helped, but she’d instantly felt the attraction to him. Of course, in those days, she equated that with possessiveness and blind attraction, practically hanging on his every word. She recalled how she’d reacted when he’d been put off by how she followed him and tracked his every movement, something that had just made sense to her at the time. If she cared about him, shouldn’t she be with him always, know his every need?

At the time, maybe it was for the best that Robin had made it clear he appreciated her attention, but he couldn’t involve himself with her. She’d been heartbroken and depressed, of course, but Robin had never pushed her away either. Eventually that had been enough to help her grow into her feelings.

Then she’d had to watch him fall in love. That had been hard. Probably the hardest thing Tharja had ever had to do. The woman he’d fallen for had been a lot of things Tharja admired and envied, but what Tharja had found was that she wasn’t necessarily jealous. Seeing Robin happy was something she had found she liked, seeing him smile and laugh made her feel lighter. That it was someone else giving him those things didn’t upset her as much as she had thought it might...No, what had upset her the most is that she wasn’t allowed to be a part of him. Not like she wanted, anyway. Friendship with Robin was wonderful, but it wasn’t enough.

Tharja had forced herself to let go of Robin all the same. He was happy and he had no intimacy to spare for her, so she had turned herself to other interests. Become closer to some of the other Shepherds, including the young priest Libra. For a time that had been enough, and Tharja didn’t find herself regretting the comfort she found in the other man. He had been her first everything, but their relationship had been short and complicated far too much by Noire’s appearance to survive Grima’s fall.

They remained close, and Noire loved her father deeply, but Tharja had long since emptied the space in her heart she held for Libra and he understood it. Robin’s death had been a catalyst for it perhaps, realizing how much she still longed and cared for the man, but she had understood it was as much about her and Libra as it had been about Robin.

Then Robin had returned, and he’d been left alone. Forced himself to be alone, rather, and once again Tharja had just let herself wait. Been his friend and busied herself with the work he’d given her, work she knew was important. She’d grown, she’d changed, she was stronger than ever and yet nothing about her feelings had ever changed. As soon as the messenger from Chrom and Lucina had arrived, Tharja had dropped everything.

The morning after everything, when Robin had left, Tharja had laid there in a terrified mixture of uncertainty and elation. She had hidden it from Robin she knew he hadn’t suspected, but part of her was soaring the sky at finally having shared herself with Robin and another was waiting for the worst to come. For Robin to return home and send her away, or for Robin to realize he’d made a mistake and distance himself even more from her. 

Of course she had let her passions speak for her and she’d admitted, completely unbidden, that what he did outside of her didn’t matter. He was an amazing man and it just made sense to her that other women would want him, and she didn’t care. But she wanted a piece for herself, just for her, even if she had to share everything else. Even that had left her uncertain in it’s own ways, worried Robin would think her absolutely mad or take it as her intending to do the same. She was devoted to him and the thought had never crossed her mind, but she still worried.

Then Robin had come back and everything had been washed away. She’d seen the marks and she knew she wasn’t the only one who’d seen the changes coming over him, but he’d made damn sure she felt like it and this morning everything had just been...perfect. She’d whispered those words before she could stop herself, or think about how he’d react and hearing him say it back had her entire body rushing with electricity...and now she was going to join him for a meal with his daughter. Something about it all felt surreal and yet filled her with just sheer happiness.

Her head cleared as they came down the stairs and Robin led her past the kitchen into the dining room. Seeing it made her think of the night before, as just through the doorway was the foyer, and a complicated mixture of thoughts rushed into her head. The idea of being a part of Robin’s life like this was breathtaking and yet it made something stir inside her to remember his daughter was joining them…

Morgan was every bit Robin’s daughter, yet where she got her sometimes thick head from Tharja didn’t understand considering how perfect Robin was...but she definitely inherited his lusts and needs.That look in her doe eyes as Robin had carried her away made Tharja smirk a little as she approached the dining table, swaying around a chair that had a plate in front of it. Tharja knew exactly where Morgan’s eyes had been looking before, and she’d seen how naked she was. Even Robin’s own daughter was being drawn into their web and it made Tharja’s spine tingle with how beautifully twisted it all was…

Tharja had waited for Robin to take a seat and then Tharja had moved to sit next to him, tucking herself into one of the high backed chairs. She barely noticed the simple breakfast of fruits and fresh bread at all, instead busying herself with sliding one of her legs against Robin’s own and smiling as he gave her a look that she supposed he thought was telling her to behave, but all she saw was the glint in his eyes.

Morgan’s arrival was announced by a stampeding sound down the stairs, the young woman swerving across the floor and into the room with an energetic jog that had her skidding over the floor when she stopped near the chair across from Tharja on the square table. Her green hair was ruffled and laid over her face until she blew it away and she was dressed in a black shirt and something like purple skirt over her knees, but the shirt was hanging half loose and the skirt was pulled low enough Tharja distinctly saw she was wearing white panties.

Instead of joining the table immediately Morgan busied herself with her hair, pushing it back into place as Robin just leaned on his hand and watched his daughter with great amusement. “Sorry! Sorry. So sorry daddy! Overslept, had a dream about waking up in bed and getting dressed then waking up halfway through getting dressed laying in bed, then getting dressed and waking up…” she explained, her voice full of perky amusement as she straightened her shirt.

Tharja had to admire her energy, and found herself more appraising of her than she had been before. She certainly was gorgeous, and her chest filled out that otherwise loose shirt so well it actually pushed it out when she had it in place...It didn’t help that she was a lithe, athletic looking woman and Tharja looked to Robin now curiously. Was he even aware of his daughter’s attention to him? How she was showing off her figure to him right now, clearly pushing her chest towards him as she spoke and deliberately bending over as she adjusted her knee length socks to show him down her shirt?

If he wasn’t aware of it, or noticing it, maybe Morgan got her thick-headedness from somewhere after all…

Robin turned back to his food and shook his head, reaching out for a glass for the juice pitcher Tharja was just now noticing and as he turned away Tharja caught Morgan’s soft glare at her father before she moved to climb into the chair. “Maybe it’s your subconscious way of punishing yourself for waking up so late, so I don’t have to.” Robin said, grinning to Morgan.

“Rude! Hey Tharja!” Morgan shot, looking to Tharja as she greeted her and grinning while she stretched out in the chair. “How’s getting it on with my dad going?”

Robin had been in mid-drink when Morgan started speaking, and when she finished Robin was choking on his juice. He half sputtered as he looked to his daughter incredulously but Thajra just grinned as she met Morgan’s eyes. “It’s a dream come true~ Your father is a wonderful man…” she said, leaning over on her hand to pick up a piece of fruit and pop it between her lips. Robin stopped himself from looking at Morgan and instead just looked between the two of them, his eyes wide and his face rising red.

Morgan didn’t back away, either. She was grabbing up the juice and taking a drink of it directly from the pitcher which this time did spark a comment from Robin. “Morgan, manners!” and Morgan pouted as she leaned back and spread her arms out.

“I don’t wanna use a cuuup. I only want a little! Besides, you’re one to talk about manners Sir I’m going to get with a woman while my daughter has company! Kjelle looked like she was going to die of shock, poor thing…”

Tharja’s eyebrow lifted a bit to hear Kjelle had heard them, but Robin just groaned a little. “I was hoping you two had been out still...I’m sorry. I’ll apologize to Kjelle personally, I wasn’t thinking about if you two were around to overhear us.” he said, his cheeks still red while Morgan smirked a little at successfully changing the topic.

Tharja could only grin. This was going to be an interesting breakfast…

* * *

Nearly an hour later, Robin was thrilled to be leaving his house. Morgan had been...very Morgan during the rest of breakfast. It was clear she was enjoying having something she could use to poke and prod him emotionally and her every topic of conversation somehow seemed to revolve around his new love life and Tharja played along just as well. He had nearly choked on his food when Morgan had idly asked if she needed to start calling Tharja ‘mommy’, to which his new lover had given a grin he could only describe as wicked and asked her if she wanted to.

In a tone Robin wasn’t entirely sure was appropriate for talking to his daughter.

Robin had noticed Morgan’s almost provocative outfit and how she had repeatedly forced his attention onto her body, but Robin wasn’t entirely sure that was on her either...She had always been off guard around him, particularly defenseless considering their relationship, and he had found himself noticing her features and how enticing she was...Yet he couldn’t help but chalk it up to the same increased drives that had him waiting until Morgan had left the table to stand, he was painfully hard and had to adjust his coat as he walked to keep it concealed until they’d left the house.

The distinct possibility that Tharja was flirting with Morgan during breakfast, and that Morgan seemed rather keen on it, made Robin remember how Tharja had mentioned Noire joining them and he found himself wondering what Tharja’s intentions were...Was she about to drag his daughter into this? Was his newfound lover going to seduce his daughter, or suggest that she join them? That thought had stuck with him throughout breakfast and he had no real way to even begin processing that, so for now he’d just left it well alone.

He’d cross anything like that when he came to it, especially if the answer to any of those questions was ‘yes’.

Tharja had looped her arm with her as they walked out from his home and the sun was now overhead though it was still somewhat early for most people to be out and about, which meant there was no one really to disturb their path and it left them with a rather comfortable silence that Tharja used to lean her head on his arm while they traveled.

Considering everything else that had happened, Robin hardly cared if anyone saw them together. He suspected he’d already have to deal with a bevy of palace rumors now Morgan knew about Tharja officially, nevermind Sully’s screaming his name. Did he particularly care if anyone knew he was seeing both women? Actually, was he seeing Sully…? The thought occurred to him that they’d never really...defined anything. It had been an impulse decision to have sex, and then she’d left with his coat. That had a lot of unanswered questions to it…

Robin had spent so much time mulling over his own head that they’d arrived at the palace before he’d even noticed it, Tharja seemingly smiling at his expression of lost in thought and he’d smiled apologetically before the guards admitted them inside. He’d led her inside though she had been a frequent enough visitor she would have been allowed in on her own and he headed straight for his office with her, though not before he found one of the messengers that often waited in the palace lobby for instruction.

Directing one close as he entered the hallway that contained his office, Tharja still on his arm, Robin quietly spoke. “Please tell the Exalt that today after midday I will need him to attend a meeting with Lady Tharja to discuss the results of her investigation. He will understand the urgency.” he’d explained and the young woman had nodded as she moved to head to the main hall. It was early, but Robin knew Chrom would already be awake and at least able to receive messages, perhaps not ready to attend a meeting yet but with enough advance notice he hopefully would be in this case.

Tharja leaned into him now and put her lips to his cheek as the messenger departed, watching him as she pulled away and rubbed a wrinkle out of her robes. “It sounds as if I have an appointment during midday, Grandmaster Robin~ I need to return home and see Noire before I return to speak with you and Chrom.” she said now and Robin smiled at her, nodding.

“I’ll see you when you return, then...And I’ll be waiting.” he said, adding the last bit with a bit of a wink and she could hardly contain herself with her smile before she leaned up to kiss him. She slipped her arm around his side, his hand coming to her hip and for several seconds all he could feel was their lips together, the sweet and still passionate kiss they were sharing now…

He did not notice Cordelia coming up behind them until he heard her voice break their trance.

“R-robin? Lady...Tharja?”

She sounded confused, which Robin noted as he broke the kiss to turn and look at her. The redheaded Pegasus Commander was standing about a yard from them dressed in her uniform, though he quietly noticed a few things off about her compared to usual. Her hair was slightly askew and she looked a bit worse for wear, a little rougher in the lines in her face and the bags under her eyes...She still looked stunningly beautiful and if he had not known her so well he doubted he’d have noticed these minor imperfections, but they were there. He found himself recalling her training last night, and connected those dots.

“My apologies Cordelia, I must not have heard you. Tharja and I were just saying goodbye.” Robin explained, trying his best to contain a bit of a flush. He truly did not care about being seen with Tharja, but Cordelia was a close friend and he couldn’t suppress a sort of anxiety at her seeing them together so soon after everything had started. 

Tharja, for her part, smiled at Cordelia as their eyes met and Robin noticed a sort of tension pass between the pair...Before it seemed to shift. Cordelia had been holding what looked like a scroll in her hand and he noticed now as she looked into Tharja’s eyes that she tried to discreetly tuck the scroll behind her back. “Oh, no! I-it’s nothing, Robin. I was just...It’s not important, really. I thought I saw you and was merely going to wish you a good morning.” she explained, but she couldn’t hide a sort of strain to her voice.

Robin had a sort of sinking feeling that he was starting to understand who Cordelia had been so frustrated with last night.

“It’s nice to see you Tharja. You and Robin look very...good together, I’m happy for you both.”

There was a smile to her lips that almost put Robin at ease, but it wasn’t quite enough. The way her lip twitched and her eyes looked anywhere but at them together, staring hard into their faces or past them, not looking at Tharja’s hand on his chest or his hand on Tharja’s hip…

Robin looked to Tharja and gently motioned with his head towards the door, smiling at her in apology for asking her to leave in such a situation and she nodded with a rather knowing smile before stroking along his arm as she stepped away. He found himself watching her saunter away, the twist of her hips as she walked away making him involuntarily grin before he remembered himself and looked back to Cordelia.

Her arm had come up to rest on her waist, her eyes still lowered and she stood with her back lowered...She looked completely different to the proud, confident Pegasus Knight he’d known since his earliest days traveling with Chrom. He stepped forward but she turned her head away and recoiled from him so he stayed back. “...Cordelia, is everything alright?” he asked, though he knew the answer.

His concern for her seemed to snap her out of her stupor and she shook her head, her eyes coming to his. It was almost admirable how much self control she had, whatever she was feeling she had almost managed to conceal behind a smile and her eyes softening at him. “No! No no, I’m fine. I was just...I admit a bit confused? I had heard yo- a rumor, that some of the trainees had seen you and Lady Sully together and now Tharja and you are so close.”

Robin couldn’t put his finger on what he was sensing in her words. She was searching for something, but it wasn’t clear aside from how blatant her focus on his relationship with the other women was and he decided to be honest. It wasn’t as if he’d tried to cover up and hide this all. “The rumor isn’t wrong, really...Tharja is a very flexible woman and Sully and I...Well, it isn’t my place to speak for her, but I enjoy her company.”

Cordelia’s eyes met his and there was again something inside her gaze that Robin didn’t know how to classify. Hope? Frustration? Relief? All three flashed and warred in a split second before it was replaced with the same look as before, her muted smile and her veiled eyes, but her stance relaxed a bit so that she was no longer shying away from him at least. Then he saw her lip move as if to speak, then tremble as she held back whatever it was she wanted to say, looking past him now.

A group of knights were walking towards them from one of the side passages and their clamoring armor mixed with their voices in discussion seemed to make Cordelia think better of what she was close to asking. “Forgive me, I’ve taken up your time! You must have so much to do. Please be well Robin. I’ll...see you soon.”

He didn’t get a chance to speak, Cordelia simply turned and strode off with purpose towards the side passages that led to the Pegasus Knight stables. Robin once more couldn’t help but turn his eyes towards her hips and he had to admire how fully her ass filled out her uniform skirt, but those thoughts were derailed by the question running through his mind; What exactly had just happened?

Robin had made a fair much of his career out of reading and understanding people and thought processes, on the battlefield and off, and as much as he tried to avoid using that talent to pick apart his friends he knew exactly what was going on. Every piece fit together and he turned away to step to his office as he let it fall into place. Cordelia must have seen or heard him and Sully together and her training session from last night was the result of it.

Then she’d seen Tharja and he together, and instead of more frustration she was confused. She was still upset, but she wasn’t sure what to do with it until he’d explained and now she had strode away with a determination he usually associated with her going on a mission. Even without a mind like his this wasn’t exactly a puzzle.

Where he’d always held a connection with Tharja that they both acknowledged and while Sully and he were always good friends with a mutual respect, Cordelia and he had a more complicated relationship. It had been obvious to him how in love she was with Chrom, a love that she had never voiced for a thousand reasons he could have guessed even back in those days. Then Sumia had grown close with Chrom and Cordelia had been silently devastated, but out of respect and care she had never tried to get in their way…

The reason he knew that was because he had found Cordelia after Sumia and Chrom’s engagement was announced, sobbing herself into pieces in the stables and he’d sat with her until she had calmed down enough to speak. He’d understood her feelings, and he’d helped her understand that while Chrom cared for her immensely it wasn’t the same as love. Chrom cared about everyone immensely, and he would have given his life for her in a heartbeat, but he loved Sumia. That had been...a difficult conversation, and he’d been worried she would break down again.

Instead, she had admitted she had always known that. That Chrom had always treated her as he would anyone else and that in turn that was what she had fallen for. How simply good he was, and how heroic he’d been. From that night on Robin and Cordelia had been friends with Robin often helping her deal with the worst of her feelings. Her issues ran deeper than Chrom and Robin had tried to help her come to terms with them. He’d suspected that she’d begun to develop feelings for him back then, especially as the Valmese War was beginning to loom, but before anything could even form between them, Severa had happened.

The young woman had come from the same version of the future as Lucina and the others and though her relationship with her mother had started incredibly somewhat icily, Severa had been open enough to discuss who her father was. Gaius. The orange haired thief had been just as surprised as Cordelia and the pair had many awkward explanations to make as neither one had even been interested in one another in such a way. Yet for Severa’s sake, during the war, they tried their best to be at least friends for her benefit and though it had never been exactly easy to watch, Robin had respected Cordelia’s decision to make an effort for her daughter’s happiness.

Then things had changed, and Robin himself had fallen for someone else, and Cordelia had grown ever more distant. Unlike Tharja who’s presence never truly left, Cordelia had pulled away and he had tried on multiple instances to try and preserve their friendship but every time Cordelia would dodge his efforts and he had been...to be honest, Robin had let her in many cases.

To this day he was not proud to admit it, even to himself, but Robin had often wondered how much of Cordelia’s interest was real and how much was a reaction to Chrom’s marriage. It wasn’t with bitterness that he thought this, but it was something he had genuinely wondered and tried to understand logically even as their friendship tattered. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, Robin knew that Cordelia had genuine feelings for him but by the time he’d understood that...Well, things had changed again.

All Robin could do now was prepare himself. For her, for the day she now would inevitably approach him and what she’d say or do when she did, and if he was going to continue being honest with himself he wasn’t sure what he’d say or do when she did...He wouldn’t know until he was truly faced with the question, he suspected.

It wasn’t exactly like he’d mind if she was interested, not after having stumbled into his encounter with Sully. Cordelia had always been an attractive woman and once upon a time he could have very easily seen her like she had wanted him to see her, but the world had a way of conspiring against that happening every time it could have. Now there was another chance, and Robin wondered if that would repeat itself again. Perhaps he shouldn’t let it...No, if Cordelia didn’t come to him soon, Robin was going to go to her and at the very least he’d tell her how much meant to him. That it wasn’t her fault things had turned out the way they had.

When he opened the door to his office Robin was, at last, ready to get to work. He needed to get some things out of his head and burying himself in his reports for the next few hours sounded like a fantastic way to get out of his own head, for a little while at least. Undoubtedly he’d lose himself in thought again, especially during the boring parts, but the day was shaping up to be interesting enough he might not have much time to drift into thought.

* * *

“Nooooiiiire!”

Flinching harshly as she was roused awake, Noire opened her blue eyes and immediately let loose a harsh scream as she pulled her sheet over her face. Above her, her best friend Morgan was practically straddling her waist with both of her legs beside Noire’s previously sleeping body and her face mere inches from the woman when she called her name. It was only because it was Morgan that Noire’s nerves hadn’t sent her scrambling out of bed and throwing herself into a panic, and Morgan would deserve it too.

Before she even had time to catch her breath, Morgan had grabbed her sheet and roughly yanked it away with a dramatic ‘oof!’ that had her falling off to the side of Noire’s double bed, revealing the woman underneath it who was now pulling herself to sit up and face Morgan, who now had a splitting grin as she looked over Noire from head to her waist. “Nice! Caught you sleeping naked again.”

Noire’s face was reddening so fast she felt light-headed and she reached up to cover her eyes with her hands, her chest pounding at what was happening. This was hardly the first time Morgan had ambushed her like this, in her own home, without her permission, or the first time she’d deliberately caught her in bed, but it wasn’t like it got any easier the sixth or seventh time it happened! This month!

“Morgan! I was sleeping!? Can’t you wait until I’m awake to b-break into my room?”

After the war, Noire had done her best to find something besides fighting and war to make her living and she’d settled for hunting for the Palace to support herself, bringing in fresh game for them regularly. Because of this she’d been given a home near the forest outside of the city and Tharja had come to live with her soon after...But Tharja was rarely home, at least not recently, and often Noire’s only company was Morgan or Nah, her two closest friends.

Morgan flopped up onto Noire again, laying over her legs on her back and reaching up to pull Noire’s hands down from her face and onto Noire’s lap where Morgan immediately put her head to comfortably rest it. Noire sighed as she was now used as Morgan’s pillow, half smiling despite the panic still working inside her chest. “No! What’s the fun of sneaking in if I can’t wake you up like this?” Morgan asked now, much to Noire’s embarrassment and she once more flushed.

Looking around from side to side, Noire found herself staring in dismay at her clothing from the night before tucked into a pile off to the side where she had set it. Much too far to try and get ahold of, so she was helpless to cover herself now that Morgan was here. It wasn’t like she was necessarily worried about Morgan, it was just...she wanted to not be naked with someone present! It was weird! Definitely, most certainly weird.

The only way she was going to be able to get dressed was going to be dealing with Morgan and get her to let her up, so Noire forced herself to look down at the grinning woman. “What are you even d-doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in bed? Or working with Anna?” she asked, trying to figure out what had provoked this latest invasion of her privacy. Not that Morgan needed much of an excuse...Last time it had been because someone had said they’d seen Severa and Inigo on a date, the time before that it had been because Morgan had found the cutest new headband for Noire, the time before that it had been-

“I cooooould be doing those things, or I could be telling you that your mom and my dad fucked last night.”

Noire’s face screwed up into a confused expression almost immediately, her eyes narrowing as she processed that information. Was Morgan serious? Morgan was definitely serious, she had her serious ‘I knew you’d wanna know’ smirk on her face and she only used that when she was going to lord something over Noire for the next week. Her face was flushing even worse now as her hands began to twitch under Morgan’s head, fingers running over her legs nervously. “Morgan! That’s not my business- Are you sure? Did you see them together?” Noire asked, trying to hide her curiosity but failing and giving in to the part of herself that Morgan knew was there.

What her mother did was really her mother’s business and Noire had known almost her entire life that Tharja was madly devoted to Robin. Even when Libra had been around, despite even Noire’s own existence, it had been clear Tharja would do anything for Robin and that alone was sort of enough to make Noire fixate on him a little bit...Her mother was an amazing, terrible, scary, powerful woman and any man who could get her attention was something, right?

It didn’t help that Robin was a sweet man who treated Noire well and she’d gotten fond of him of him as she’d spent more and more time with Morgan. It wasn’t exactly a crush! Just...She had kind of fixated on him a little. Morgan might have caught her staring more than once or twice, and nearly told Robin at one point or another, but Noire had begged her not to. Noire wasn’t even sure Robin would care, or maybe he’d make her leave and not come back, or maybe he’d have kissed her and held her close to his chest and tell her it was okay…

Noire hadn’t been willing to risk it. To hear that her mother and Robin were...together? Morgan said fucking, and that alone made Noire’s face flush even worse, but she didn’t really know what to think of this. Was she jealous? Not...really. It made sense. Robin and Tharja made sense to her, but maybe that was just her fixation talking…

“Mmhmn~ Caught them going at it the other night...And last night. And she had breakfast with us this morning.” Morgan explained with her trademark grin, leaving Noire to groan and pull one of her hands free which she placed on her mouth, nibbling on her thumb quietly while she considered exactly how to handle this.

She didn’t hear the soft footsteps outside the door, or notice Morgan suddenly looking towards it as she decided what to say. “That’s...I wanna know details! You can’t just say something like that and not tell me more…” Noire said, half pouting as she looked down and now noticed Morgan’s distraction.

Tharja was standing in the doorway, both arms out and hands gripping the doorframe lightly, her head tilted and her lips in a rather worrying smile. Noire gulped and Morgan lifted her head off Noire’s lap, grinning in her sheepish was. “H-hey Tharja! We were just talking about, uh...Well, you and my dad, but you know, no need to hex us into oblivion, right?”

Instead of replying, Tharja stepped forward and used her heel to close the door behind herself, her dark eyes narrowing. The door clasped closed just as Tharja exhaled breathily at them. “I think we need to talk, girls...I have so many things to tell you both…”


	8. Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cordelia struggles to come to terms with what she really wants, while Robin and Sully reconnect after their tryst. Tensions rise and questions are asked, especially as Tharja reveals to the gathered group what exactly has occurred within Robin...

“Isn’t that wild?”

“I still can’t believe that. I guess I could see her doing that, but him?”

“It’s always the quiet ones, you know…”

The pair of Pegasus Knights standing side by side in the nearly midday light, hanging their saddles off a fence that outlined the staging area for aerial drills. They and several other women were gathered together, lances still staged on the racks nearby as they awaited their Captain to arrive. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they hardly noticed their new guests until Cordelia cleared her throat from behind them and spoke. “Riders, in formation!”

Hearing the Commander of their unit speak so sent each woman into a reflexive and quick scatter to take a line in front of the fencing, staring straight ahead and saluting with an arm raised across their chests. The Captain of their unit stood at Cordelia’s side, a woman she knew well who nodded as they stepped forward and began to speak to the assembled Riders.

Cordelia’s eyes were moving over everything as she stood there, arms raising to cross over her chest. Every Rider’s uniform was being inspected from boots to their hair, then her eyes turned to the lances that had been selected for their equipment. Everyone seemed to be taking this just as seriously as she had asked, minus the gossiping she’d overheard...Which she couldn’t help but keep replaying over in her mind.

She was the Wing Commander, and she had a duty to ensure this unit was ready for everything they might face. They were to represent Ylisse in this joint effort with the Feroxians to secure vital border positions from the threat of bandits and worse and she couldn’t afford to let herself slip. Not now. Not that she ever had allowed herself to slip, not that she ever could.

Yet even as she watched the Captain begin inspecting the gear and saddles hung on the fence, Cordelia couldn’t help but look past them to the tree line just over the crest of a grassy hill within the Palace walls. It evoked a sort of fluttering discomfort in her stomach to think about, a mixture of guilt and jealousy that she shook off and turned her gaze sharply to the assembled riders.

With her arms lowering to her sides she began to speak, the words practiced and her tone level. Explaining that they were to be under Khan Flavia’s direct orders, that they were to conduct themselves with every honor and provide their very best to the Feroxian unit they were assigned to work with. She explained how the Exalt and she had their faith placed in them, and she thanked them for serving Ylisse. She had meant every word, well practiced them in her own head, but right now she could feel her mind pulling a thousand miles away with every word.

Her thoughts kept trying to pull away, and Cordelia refused to let them. How stern her face must have come off with how focused she was as she watched several riders exchange somewhat anxious looks, but no one questioned why their normally level Commander was now glaring into the distance or why her jaw was set. Before Cordelia could scare any of them any further however, their Captain stepped in front of them and ordered them to gather their Pegasi.

They turned and marched off towards the stables, but the Captain remained and turned back to Cordelia with a raised eyebrow. The brown haired woman stepped forward and saluted, but her eyes were softer than they should have been. “Commander. Permission to speak freely?” she asked, and Cordelia nodded even as she felt herself prickle a little at being snapped out of her thoughts. “I would be honored to conduct the rest of the dispatch myself so you could return to the Palace and your duties, Lady Commander.”

“Captain, my duties this morning are to ensure you and your wing-” Cordelia started, but the Captain seemed to set her jaw and she tightened her salute in response.

“With no disrespect, Commander. My wing and I will be fine, but we have a long mission ahead of us and my unit’s morale needs to be at it’s best. They do not need you staring holes in them or menacing the middle distance to add to their nerves my Lady.”

It was a little shocking to hear how plain her thoughts had been on her face but Cordelia did her best to keep looking at the Captain’s eyes, despite the impulse to lower her gaze in shame. She couldn’t find the words to explain, but she didn’t have to. “My Lady. We will be fine. My unit and I will do everything in our power not to dishonor Ylisse and to not disappoint our allies.” and the Captain reached out to place her hand on Cordelia’s shoulder, a touch that made her stiffen reflexively.

The air left her as Cordelia nodded somberly, giving her own salute across her chest as she spoke. “I...thank you, Captain. I will return to my chambers. Please take care of yourselves and your riders, and come home safely.”

It was with a gnawing frustration and a heavy heart that Cordelia turned and walked away from the dispatch field that morning, reaching up to run her hand over her face and into her hair. She was trying and her trying wasn’t even remotely good enough, and she knew it. Her riders could see it, the Captain had seen it and she had known just how off kilter she was even though she convinced herself it wasn’t true.

She’d been off balance since yesterday. Since she’d heard Sully’s screams after watching her and Robin disappear into the woods and though she hadn’t wanted to believe what she knew was happening she’d still worked up her nerves to approach and confirm...And she had. If it had been anyone else, the sight of Sully pinned to a tree with her legs wrapped around someone’s waist would have probably made her blush and walk away, perhaps reprimand Sully about what had happened, but nothing to throw her emotions into a spiral like now.

No, it had to be Robin who’d been making love to Sully against that tree. It had to be Robin who was holding her hips, who’s body ground into hers and provoked sounds that Cordelia admitted she wasn’t sure Sully was capable of making. It was at once a tantalizing and horrible thing, the knowledge that Robin was a capable lover and the realization she had once again lost her chance to speak on her feelings.

This was how it had always been. It was how her life had always gone. Since the first day she’d realized her feelings for Chrom to the day she’d realized she could not have him, and now Robin had once more slipped from her fingers. She didn’t hate him, or Sully, or Tharja, or Sumia and Chrom. If she was being honest she admitted that Chrom and Sumia made a natural couple, both of them completely lost in the other’s love and together with Lucina and Cynthia they were an admirable royal family.

And Robin had looked happy.

She was one of the few Shepherds that she knew of who recognized the change in Robin when he’d returned. Later members of their group had only known Robin after the Plegian and Valmese Wars had reached their peak, they only knew the Tactician he had become to help Chrom win those wars and avenge his sister. They hadn’t been there in the earliest days like she had, when he was still a little nervous and uncertain of himself and thrown himself into everything with enthusiasm because he didn’t want to disappoint anyone. He’d grown into a much more serious and focused man, but Cordelia still saw traces of those initial charming points in him.

Then he’d come back, and all that remained was that Tactician he’d become.

So to see him happy again, to see him smile with his eyes even if it had been at Tharja, it was a good thing. It didn’t make it hurt any less, it never had. Robin being happy didn’t make his relationship with Tiki feel any better, nor did him looking like he enjoyed himself make seeing him with Sully any easier either. They were all reminders that for all the things Cordelia was capable of, winning over the men she fell for was completely out of her reach.

She’d been too focused on trying to be useful to Chrom so he might notice her and come to appreciate her, she’d never voiced her feelings. Sumia had, and Chrom had already been close with her for longer than he was close to Cordelia, so what happened next was only natural. To find out that Lucina and Cynthia were children from their future together made their relationship seem only more preordained, and Cordelia had resigned herself to never having what she wanted.

Then Robin had come along, and he’d been there for her. He’d helped her come to terms with her own feelings and in being her friend, he’d shown her she wasn’t doomed to be alone without Chrom in her life. That she could find feelings for another man. It was as much about how honest he was with her, how direct to not spare her, as it was about his kindness and his empathy. Almost all of her life she’d been treated like porcelain, something to be admired and treated gently, and she hated it. She was a woman who could handle herself and she had proven herself countless times, and it felt good to have someone respect that.

Then Severa had come along, just as she was gathering her courage, and threw everything into chaos. Cordelia didn’t hate her daughter, or even hate the fact she had come back to save them from her future. To hear she was the daughter of her and Gaius, however, that had been something Cordelia wished she didn’t know. It had put everything into question and she had been faced with the idea that her future was with the thief...But she couldn’t make it work.

Gaius was a slob, morally questionable, Gaius was smug in all the wrong places and dismissive of all the wrong things. They had gotten along for a time, for Severa’s sake, but there had never been a relationship between them. Even the man himself hadn’t been interested, he found Cordelia too serious and critical for him.

She’d barely resolved things with Gaius and gotten Severa to understand why, when Tiki had appeared and Cordelia had seen the connection she had with Robin all at once. She understood something about Robin that no one else seemed to and in turn he had been drawn to her. When she’d finally joined them as a companion their attraction was all the more obvious for their proximity to each other. Then Morgan had appeared, and that sealed any chance Cordelia had of being able to voice her feelings to him.

She wanted to pretend she took it well, that she had learned her lesson with Chrom, but she would be lying to herself. The only reason she did not break down was because their world was on the brink of destruction, that every single Shepherd needed to be at their best to confront the dangers ahead of them. That and nothing else had kept her from just climbing astride her pegasus and riding off to somewhere she was not forced to watch both of the men she had loved fall in love with someone else.

And then Robin had died, and all she had felt was remorse.

He was gone and she’d never told him how much he meant to her, never truly thanked him for any of the things he’d done or anything. He was just gone. She’d given up, she truly had, just accepted that she was to be alone with Severa and that had been that. She was not the only person to make such a decision and she had actually found some common ground with Sully in that way. It had given her some comfort to know she wasn’t alone in convicting herself to helping her daughter live the life she deserved.

Of course, Robin coming back hadn’t been part of her plan, but she’d stuck to it. Him being alive didn’t matter, not when she could see that something still deeply affected the man. She’d tried to be there for him in some ways, but she hadn’t trusted herself to not fall for him all over again…

In a very real way, she’d lost Robin three times now.

Before she knew it, Cordelia had woven herself from the dispatch field to her private quarters and when she stepped inside she almost immediately kicked the door closed behind her with such force it rattled the room. The series of events up until now, seeing Sully and Tharja with Robin, that made her sad. That had brought tears to her eyes. Admittedly it had also frustrated her to no end to lose Robin again and again, now to an entirely separate pair of women. But what was also frustrating her was the knowledge that she hadn’t...really lost yet.

Robin hadn’t said it, not in so many words, but it was clear that something more existed in his relationship with both women. Maybe something she had a place in, if she wanted it. It was just a question if she was willing to risk looking foolish by asking for that place, and if she was willing to share him.

Her room was simple and suited her well, most of the time, but right now it felt stuffy and claustrophobic as she walked through it. The shelves felt like they were too close, the bed seemed to small, the air felt stiff and dry inside and when she opened the door to her bathroom she immediately walked to the washing basin and plunged her hands into it and splashed her face. Looking up into the mirror she found herself looking at someone she didn’t quite recognize; A red faced, lip biting girl who’s eyes were obviously wet from more than just water.

That was part of her frustrations. She’d let herself fall into the mindset of just letting go for so long that it had become natural when it came to this. Chrom, Robin, she’d let them both go because she’d had to, it was how she’d come to terms with their relationships and now there was a chance for her, but was there really? And what would it mean in this relationship Robin seemed to have with the other two women?

There were so many questions in her head and so many things she didn’t know how to address by herself...She needed to talk to Robin. She needed to understand and to ask, and maybe that would just make her feel better. She didn’t even try to consider what might come after, though a brief memory of Sully wrapped around Robin came to her mind, and the memory of how Tharja and he had kissed came after. Would she…?

That flush on her face deepened before her eyes and she shook her head wildly, water misting off her skin and she reached up to clap her hands to her cheeks before she stood up and turned to leave. She didn’t have anything left to do and she needed answers, no matter what.

* * *

When Robin had heard the knock at his door and he’d looked up to watch who came in, it almost didn’t surprise him when Sully stepped through it with a smirk on her lips. Despite what had happened yesterday she looked no worse for wear, no visible marks, but this was helped by her being dressed in her full armor and equipment. A sword hung from her belt as she approached his desk, bracing her hands on it and looking down at him now. Her eyes were bright, perhaps a little too bright for her.

Robin himself could feel his cheeks reddening a bit at seeing her after yesterday. Part of him had wondered if she would come find him, or if their encounter had been a singular anomaly in their years of friendship; A question that was now answered as Sully pulled herself over the desk, leaning into Robin and kissing him. It wasn’t quite as fiery and impassioned as the day before, but it left his lips stinging and a soft smacking sound echoed when they broke apart. “...Good morning to you too Sully.” he’d murmured, moving to stand up at his desk.

“Eh, wanted to remember what that felt like. Someone spent more time turning my back into a scratching post than kissing me, you know.” she retorted, a fire in her that he found himself enjoying. She leaned herself onto his desk with her hip, watching his face and he got the growing sense she was enjoying the fact they were talking about this quite literally mere feet from his now wide open door. “Not that I’m necessarily complaining, you should just kiss me more from now on.”

Now Robin was grinning a little at Sully. “So there’s a ‘from now on’, hmn? Is that why you came?” he asked, but she rolled her eyes at him and he chuckled in response.

He didn’t miss when she moved to stand how a little bit of her face grimaced and he watched her reach down and rub her thigh slightly. “Not a chance until I figure out if I pulled this thigh muscle climbing the wall to get home, or if you did it throwing me around like a ragdoll…” she muttered, though that last part seemed to make her look up at him and he caught something in her eyes. A rather lustful something, especially as she spoke next. “Didn’t realize you had gotten quite so strong. Picking me up and pulling me around like that…” and she trailed off a moment. “...Was hot.”

It suddenly occurred to him that, considering Sully was a woman of solid build herself, it was unusual he had managed to do simply pick her up and move her like that. Some part of him realized it must have been a side effect of whatever power he had taken into himself, whatever Tharja had helped him accept within him, but there hadn’t been any real indication of a change. At least not one he noticed until she had said something to him. What else was he capable of now, he wondered?

Still Robin grinned and reached out to slide his hand along Sully’s side, holding her from across his desk. “I’ll be happy to show you just how strong I’ve gotten, if you want to close the door…” he murmured, despite knowing Sully had already put the offer off the table. It didn’t mean he couldn’t tease and entice. True to his suspicions Sully shook her head but he did see a hesitant glance thrown to the door before she did so.

“Maybe later...You’re seriously not tired or sore after all that?” she asked, half curiously and half in amusement as Robin just rolled his shoulders into a shrug.

“I might have gone home after and put Tharja in a similar position, and I still feel fine.” he explained, and he watched Sully narrow her eyes in slight confusion even though she never lost her smirk. Though now that he’d said Tharja’s name, the room hung still for a moment even as the pair was lost in each other.

Sully went to speak, she opened her mouth and just as she did, someone stepped into the room. “Robin, I need to-”

Cordelia had already closed the door behind her when she looked up to see both Sully and Robin staring at her slightly taken aback, looking between them both and then to Robin’s hand on Sully’s side. Something softened in her eyes and Robin knew she was upset even before she reached for the door handle to open it. “Nevermind, I’m...interrupting something.”

Robin was going to say something, -anything-, but Sully was the first to speak. “No you’re not.” and Robin looked to her, a strange smile on her face as Cordelia also looked up at her. “You’ve seen us fucking already, what’s us alone together?”

Wait, Cordelia had seen them yesterday? Oh. That...explained a lot. How hadn’t he noticed her? She must have literally been right next to them if she’d gotten a good look and he just hadn’t paid any attention? 

Still it didn’t change anything, Robin looked over to Cordelia and added to Sully’s words. “It’s fine Cordelia. I was hoping to get a chance to talk to you too...Do you want me to ask Sully to leave?” he said, and Sully glanced at him for a moment before she turned back and nodded. There was a tense moment between the three of them before Cordelia shook her head and stepped forward.

She didn’t speak again until she was in front of the desk, standing next to Sully and looking at him with something set in her eyes. “No, I’m okay, I don’t think it matters.” she said, giving the other woman a glance and a sort of halting smile before she met Robin’s eyes again. “...Robin, I’ve…”

Then silence, her eyes lowering as she put her hands together in front of herself. “I’m not sure if you…” and more trailing off. Almost on instinct, Robin moved his hand from Sully and he reached to take Cordelia’s hands, closing his over both of hers and he just smiled at her, trying to get her to relax and reassure her through whatever she was going through.

Her hands stilled and then moved to slide around his, both of her hands tugging his. “I...Robin I love you. I’ve loved you for years! I loved you for taking care of me and making me feel normal and not insane, and I...I thought I lost all my chances and you were so happy, so I let you alone and-”

“Cordeli-”

“-then you were so alone and you didn’t want to let anyone in, and I thought I’d get over it and let you recover, and then I saw you and Sully, and I thought I’d lost you all over again and it hurt so much-”

“Please, it’s-”

Cordelia was trying to break his hand, that much Robin was sure of. Her grip was strong enough as she continued to unload on him that he was taken aback, but he wasn’t focused on that right now. She was crying. She was trying to keep talking normally, but her voice was muffling and dulling as tears came to her eyes and she was clearly becoming overwhelmed by her confession and Robin couldn’t do anything to comfort her because of this damned desk.

Without even thinking about it, Robin reached out with his free hand and grabbed the edge of the desk. When he pushed it, the oaken monstrosity slid with a horrendous screech straight across the room to the side wall, papers trailing off it and fluttering to the ground. Sully’s face was priceless, her eyes wide and her mouth gaping open, while Cordelia stopped rambling and now just looked thoroughly shocked and confused, her eyes still streaming.

Robin stepped over the now open space and slipped his free arm up around her to pull her into him. It was a soft hug but an intimate one, their hands still locked together between them and his hand cradling her head from behind. Cordelia’s chest shook with a sob as she leaned her head into the space of his shoulder and he just held her there, looking to Sully who was looking away now, though he could see a little bit of tears marring her face as well.

“Cordelia...I know. I’ve known. Things were just so complicated, then Gaius and...everything else.” he said, catching himself. The name that nearly crossed his lips made his heart ache and he squeezed his eyes shut. Her tears were infectious and he found himself welling up, but he needed to finish speaking. “I care about you so much. You’re an amazing woman, but...I need you to know I don’t want to give up anyone in my life.”

He wished he could just tell Cordelia he loved her and that she was all he’d ever needed, or wanted, or something to match the sheer level of hurt she had carried in her voice and make it all better, but that wasn’t their reality. He’d fallen in love with Tharja, he’d had sex with Sully and the three of them still had to work out their own dynamics, nevermind what Cordelia was thinking or feeling. “I love Tharja.” he’d started, and both women in the room seemed to tense. “...and I still haven’t talked to Sully about what we have together. I’m happy with what I have, and as much as I care about you, I don’t want to just throw that all away.” he continued, biting back the desire to soften it somehow.

Cordelia didn’t deserve that, she deserved him treating her like the strong woman she was, no matter how much she’d been hurting up until now.

“I’m sorry if that’s not the answer you-”

He never got a chance to finish, because Cordelia leaned back from his neck and then pushed into him. The kiss that came was so different to the kisses he’d had in recent days. There was no force, no rush, no grinding of skin and teeth clicking, nor any wild lust and restraint thrown to the wind...It was so sweet. Soft. Tender. Her lips barely touched his at first and then they were just pressed into his, her hand coming up to his shoulder and she grabbed him by it. He returned the kiss with only a moment of hesitation on his part, closing his eyes as he let the moment sweep over them…

She was also the one to break the kiss, keeping close to him as she looked up at him with this strange mixture of uncertainty and a flicker of happiness. “I...I know. I know I’m not going to have you all to myself, but...I’d like to be a part of your life. If you have room for me.” she said, and he found himself smiling at just how pure that all sounded. 

From the side, Sully had turned back with a soft smile but clearly felt left out of the moment as she was now wrapping her arms around Robin’s shoulder, and Cordelia’s, which made the pegasus commander stiffen a little and look to her with a blink. “You’re both adorable, it’s kinda making my teeth hurt actually…” she muttered, and Robin snorted a bit as Cordelia smiled sweetly and leaned forward to bury her face in Robin’s chest in response.

“I know we still have a lot to talk about, both of you, but I don’t want you to feel like I’m avoiding it. I just...think it might be best discussed in private, with Tharja?” Robin added, giving them both a glance. He’d taken Sully without really talking to the other woman and though she had accepted it, Tharja had seemed to make it clear she was comfortable with sex, but now it was clear that two other women wanted more than just that.

Cordelia nodded a bit at that, but flushed scarlet at what Sully said next. “As long as when we have that conversation you can be naked again.” and Robin turned to her with his eyes narrowing, almost chastizing her…

Then Cordelia seemed to smile into Robin’s chest and she slowly nodded, looking up with a positively enchanting shyness to her face that had Robin holding her even tighter. Finally, he exhaled a little and looked to Sully. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll at least take my shirt off. Good enough?”

“Please, not right now?”

Robin’s head snapped to what he realized was now the open door and he felt the color drain from his face. Chrom was standing in the doorway, a shit eating grin plastered on his face. How exactly had he not heard the door opening? How had none of them heard the door opening? A glance at Sully confirmed however that she wore an equally infuriating grin and she absolutely had heard the door open, but hadn’t said anything. This woman…

Behind Chrom, two more figures were in line. One was Tharja, standing behind him, and she had a rather mysterious smile on her lips that was at once amused and self-satisfied...And looking over Chrom’s right shoulder was Lucina.

Of Chrom’s two daughters, Lucina was the one who most closely resembled her father. Her long blue hair was tucked back behind a golden circlet and it was straight down her shoulders onto her back like her mother’s, but her face was a dead ringer for Chrom’s. Sharp features on a heart shaped face with no wrinkles or scars, her eyes shining just as his did and the mark of the Exalt in her right eye. She wore a combat outfit similar to his as well, save having more sleeves, and she matched his build in how she was toned but sleek and athletic instead of muscular and bulky. That she and Chrom carried identical swords, the legendary Falchion, did not hurt the family resemblance.

There was a mixture of confusion and amusement on the princess’ face, with perhaps a tinge of red from her father’s comment. Chrom was still grinning ear to ear as he motioned for the other two to join him inside and he closed the door behind them, leaning on it with his arms crossing over his chest. Robin couldn’t even stand to look at his eyes because just the sheer enjoyment the man was having at his expense actively hurt his pride and soul, he could physically feel the jokes Chrom would have the next time they were alone.

“It is midday, Grandmaster, and I was told Lady Tharja had every important information for us. I’m sorry to interrupt, but…” he explained, while Lucina was busy looking in confusion at the room, especially the desk on the side wall, while Sully had pulled back and was beaming at Robin as she stepped over to the couch nearby and plopping herself down on it, her leg crossing over the other. 

“You…you’re right. Cordelia, would you take a seat and we’ll talk in a little bit?” he asked, smiling as he released the woman who clung to his hand only a moment, squeezing it as she wordlessly nodded. Soon she was off as well, and Tharja took her place in front of him to lean in and give him a peck on the cheek.

“Excellent choice, My Robin~” she breathed into his ear, the flesh on his arms standing on edge at the tone of adoration oozing from her voice, but she stepped away as well to take a spot in the center of the room, hands crossed over one another.

Robin finally looked back to Chrom, who was still grinning all the same. “I brought Lucina as, aside from you, there is no one else in the Capitol who knows Grima well enough to judge anything we’re about to hear.” he explained and when Robin looked to Lucina, she was nodding her head at him and then looking to Tharja.

“I wanted to hear that everything was finally over myself. It’s been a year and yet I’ve never been able to truly accept Grima’s death...It seems so impossible after what I have gone through at it’s hands.” now Lucina spoke, her voice heavy as she took a seat on one of the chairs in front of where Robin’s desk had been previously.

All eyes fell to Tharja now, as Robin moved to take his own seat with his hands on his lap.

* * *

Tharja took a soft breath before she began, seeming to steel herself for speaking to so many people at once and everyone watched her cross her arms over her stomach, eyes darting to Robin where she immediately gained some measure of resolve and nodded. “I know it’s been...It’s been months of research and experiments, but I think with Henry’s help I was able to confirm some things. Grima is dead, for a start. Well and truly dead. It’s soul is completely extinguished.”

Lucina and Robin both seemed to let out silent tension they had held, exhaling, even as Chrom’s grin faded into a more calm expression. Sully and Cordelia were equally grateful looking, a sort of unspoken relief at the news being good. “That’s not all, however…” Tharja added, casting a glance to Robin now. “When we first began experimenting it was obvious that something had sealed Grima’s power. It’s why despite being so powerful it’s death didn’t cause a backlash or some after-effect, something used considerable magical energy to keep it contained within Grima’s corpse.”

“Until a few weeks ago. That seal faded, and whatever energy was left in Grima left it.” and now that look she gave Robin was searching. Looking for his approval, and he knew why. He nodded to her now to give her permission.

“I’ve already told Chrom everything, Tharja. Please continue.”

Tharja nodded to him, a smile coming to her lips. “Most of that energy went to the only other suitable vessel...Robin. After some...research, it’s clear that Robin has inherited a significant portion of that energy. Grima’s death has robbed it of any of the malicious intent or controlling effect it had before, so it’s not harmful to him anymore.” and then she had a rather wild look cross over her. “It’s merely made him even more perfect than before~ It’s spectacular…”

Everyone in the room, including Robin, was staring at her as she reached up to her face and he watched her cover her face in what he could only describe as hiding her anticipation, but Robin’s attention was drawn to Lucina who turned back to him. There was a wariness to her eyes, a distance in her stare that he didn’t like, but he didn’t react to it. Lucina had been the one to witness the most of Grima’s rampage, and she had fought her entire life since coming to this time to prevent any chance of that happening here.

The last time his ability to control himself had come into doubt, she’d pointed her sword at him. At least this was an improvement.

“Henry and I also confirmed that some Grimleal are still operating, at least enough of them to carry off pieces of Grima’s remains.” Tharja added, causing all eyes to move back to her again. “We don’t know what the fools are hoping to do with them, but we had to contend with Risen several times during our work...They didn’t last long, of course, but there’s still some out there.”

Chrom took that news with the most frustration, his fist clenching and he turned to look at Robin, eyes already alight with intent. “We should organize a force to start hunting them down, Robin. I won’t allow them to hurt anyone else, not after what we’ve done.” he said, his voice hard as Robin steeled himself to the Exalt.

He knew exactly how frustrating it was to hear the Risen were still out there, under the hand of the Grimleal, but he raised his hand all the same. “I’ve got not reports of any Risen activity except for this, and the Grimleal haven’t made any moves to expose themselves since the end of the war. If we go hunting them now we’re looking for needles in a thousand haystacks, and we’ll be causing a panic.” Robin retorted, watching Chrom’s jaw clench. “The instant we know of any locations or activity we can mobilize the army and burn them out, but until then let me work my sources and contacts first, please?”

In truth, Robin had been leaving ears and eyes looking out for the Grimleal since he’d returned, but the deaths of their Leader had highest ranking members had driven them deep underground…

“Is there anything else, Tharja?” Robin asked, and she shook her head as Chrom nodded stiffly. Lucina still hadn’t taken her eyes off Robin, though it was not as intense this time…

Satisfied, Chrom spoke next. “Thank you. You and Henry have both done a great service for us...Robin, I’ll talk to you later about all this. I...I need a bit.” he explained, moving to open the door. Robin could say nothing but what he’d already said and they both knew it; As much as Chrom loathed the Grimleal and their machinations, he had to admit there was sound logic in Robin’s reasoning and they both knew it was pointless to mobilize against an invisible foe…

As Chrom stepped out the door Lucina followed, her eyes cast back to Robin and the door closed behind her as she left. As soon as the room was clear, Sully and Cordelia were back to their feet. Cordelia moved closer and quietly embraced his side, her hands tightly gripping his back and his chest as Sully lifted her hand to her chin.

“I thought it was a little odd how strong you’d gotten...Guess it makes sense if you’re packing Grima’s power, eh?” she quipped, smiling now.

Tharja spoke up as soon as she was done, huffing. “You’re wrong...This isn’t Grima’s power, it’s Robin’s...It’s his alone now.”

And now Robin fell silent, listening to the room’s soft noises and the breathing between the three. He had no idea what to say, no inkling of what came next, but Cordelia was the one to interject. “I...need to get back to my work. I’ll...Can we talk tonight…?” she asked.

With Sully and Tharja looking at him, Robin nodded to her question as she looked up at him. “I’d love that. All four of us need to talk, I think...So let’s meet tonight. After my duties are over. All three of you are welcome to wait for me at home until I’m done, so we can speak?”

Wordlessly the group accepted, though Tharja maintained her rather mysterious smile from before as she sauntered to the door and opened it. “I’ll be waiting for you all over again My Robin...I look forward to getting to know your new friends…”

Sully was next to move to the door, following Tharja and she turned to look at Robin, pointing at him idly. “You better not leave us up all night waiting for you. I’m taking the bed if you do.” and then she was gone, leaving Robin with a soft grin in return…

And Cordelia was last. Pulling from him almost regretfully, her eyes coming up to his and then she leaned up to press a sweet kiss to his lips that he returned, but it passed before much could progress. She was pulling herself to the open door and giving him a little wave, her face now lost in a beautiful look that was a bashful and happy smile. Completely different from how she entered his office not long ago…

Robin quietly sank into his chair as he listened to the door close behind Cordelia, placing his hand over his face. The news was not all good, but there was a relief in knowing Grima was truly defeated and now Cordelia had entered his life...She was sweet, charming, she was sincere and wonderful and he had no idea what he was getting himself into.

How the hell was he going to talk to all three of them tonight, and come to any kind of understanding? He barely understood what was going on, except that it made him happy and it satisfied him in some way he could not really describe...That didn’t make it any easier to consider.

Then he turned his head, looking to the table off to the side. He sighed softly. And now he had to move his desk back into place before he could finish his work for the day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I know this and the last chapter were pretty heavy on exposition and dialogue with no smut, but I promise it's coming! The smut is right around the corner, and it's going to be extra smutty to make up for the wait!
> 
> As always, throw any feedback or comments at me here or on Discord!


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